TUGAS MANDIRI

BASIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR

BASIC GRAMMAR EXPLANATION

Nama: Alfons Cornelius, Florencia Sandra Marceline, Sonia Rahman

NPM: 191210071, 191210004, 191210025
Dosen: Nurma Dhona Handayani, S.Pd., M.Pd.

PROGRAM STUDI SASTRA INGGRIS

FAKULTAS ILMU SOSIAL DAN HUMANIORA
UNIVERSITAS PUTERA BATAM
2019
 KATA PENGANTAR

Puji syukur kami ucapkan kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, atas karunia-Nya
kami dapat mengerjakan tugas ini hingga selesai. Tugas ini kami susun untuk
memenuhi tugas akhir semester berupa Tugas Mandiri mata kuliah Basic English
Grammar.
Kami ucapkan terima kasih kepada Ibu Nurma Dhona Handayani, S.Pd., M.Pd.
selaku dosen pengampu mata kuliah Basic English Grammar yang membimbing
kami selama penyusunan tugas ini.
Semoga Tugas Mandiri ini dapat berguna bagi yang membacanya. Kami juga
menyadari Tugas Mandiri ini masih terdapat banyak kekurangan. Untuk itu, kami
mohon maaf atas segala kekurangan yang ada dan mengharapkan masukan dari
pembaca.

Batam, 2019

Penyusun
 CHAPTER I
USING BE
1.1 Noun + Is + Noun: Singular
a. Australia is a country.
Singular means “One”
Australia = a singular noun
is = a singular verb
country = a singular noun
b. Germany is a country.
A frequently comes in front of singular nouns.
In this example, A comes in front of the singular noun country.
A is called an “article”.
c. A rabbit is an animal.
A and an have the same meaning. They are both articles.

A is used in front of words that begin with consonant sounds: /b/, /d/, /f/, /g/, etc.
For example: a book, a dog, a friend, a girl.
An is used in front of words that begin with vowel sounds: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, etc.
For example: an island, an animal, an ear, an office.

Let’s Practice: Complete the sentences using a or an.

1. She is __ student.
2. Asia is __ continent.
3. __ cat is __ animal.
4. This is __ eraser.
5. Yellow is __ color.

1.2 Noun + Are + Noun: Plural

a. NOUN + ARE + NOUN
 Rabbits are animals.
Plural means “two, three, or more.”
Rabbits = a plural noun
are = a plural verb
animals = a plural noun
SINGULAR : a rabbit, an animal
PLURAL : rabbits, animals
Plural nouns end in –s.
A and an are used only with singular nouns.

SINGULAR : a city, a country

PLURAL : cities, countries
Some singular nouns that end in ‘y’ have a special plural form: they omit the ‘y’
and add ‘ies’.
b. NOUN and NOUN + ARE + NOUN
Australia and Germany are countries.
Rabbits and dogs are animals.

Two nouns connected by and are followed by are. Australia is a singular noun.
Germany is a singular noun. They are connected by and. Together they are
plural, i.e. more than one.

1.3 Pronoun + Be + Noun

SINGULAR PLURAL
I Am a student We are students
You are a student You are students
She Is a student They are students
He Is a student
It Is a student
 Other examples:
Sonia is in my class. She is a student.
Vicky is in my class. He is a student.
Sonia and Vicky are in my class. They are students.

1.4 Contractions with be

PRONOUN BE CONTRACTION EXAMPLE
I am I’m I’m a student.
She She’s She’s a student.
He is He’s He’s a student.
It It’s It’s a city.
You You’re You’re a student.
You’re students.
are
We We’re We’re students.
They They’re They’re students.

1.5 Be + Adjectives
NOUN BE ADJECTIVE
A ball Is round
Balls Are round
Sonia Is intelligent
Sonia and Vicky Are intelligent
 PRONOUN BE ADJECTIVE
I Am
She
He Is
It happy
You
We Are
They

As we can see, adjectives don’t change and the same for all types of Subject.
We don’t need to put ‘s’ or ‘es’ behind them.

1.6 Be + A Place
SUBJECT BE PLACE
Here In these examples, be is
There followed by places.
Lisbika is Downstairs
Upstairs
Outside

SUBJECT BE PREPOSITION NOUN

at the library
In these examples, be is
Work
followed by places that
Jofan is on the bus
consist of a preposition
in his room
and a noun.
next to Sonia
 CHAPTER V
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS
The simplest definition of a noun is a thing and nouns are the basic building
blocks of sentences. Thing can represent Person, Place, Animal, Idea, and Emotion.

5.1. Nouns: Subjects and Objects

How to build words NOUN: SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS?
The formula is = SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT
For example:
NOUN NOUN
Steven Rogers is holding a shield.
Subject Verb Object

5.2. Adjective + Noun

An adjective (adj.) describes a noun. In grammar, we say that adjectives modify
nouns. The word modifies means changes a little. Adjectives give a little
different meaning to a noun.
For example:
I don’t like hot weather.
Adj. + Noun
The bad guys have many problems.
Adj. + Noun

*Reminder: An adjective can also follow be; the adjective describe the subject
of the sentence.

For example:
The weather is hot
Noun + be + Adj.
5.3. Subject Pronouns and Object Pronouns
For example:
a. I know Nana. She is a friendly person.
b. I like Nana. I know her well.
c. I have a black box. It is on my back.
A pronoun has the same meaning as noun.
In a: She has the same meaning as Nana.
In b: Her the same meaning as Nana.
In grammar, we say that pronoun refers to a noun. The pronoun she and her
refer to the noun Nana.
Sometimes a pronoun refers to a noun phrase.
In c: It refers the phrase a black box.

Also, Subject pronoun and Object pronoun are different. In a and c, she and it
are Subject pronoun, while in b, her is an Object pronoun.

SUBJECT PRONOUN OBJECT PRONOUN

I Me
You You
We Us
They Them
She Her
He Him
It It
5.4. Nouns: Singular and Plural
What is the meaning of Singular and Plural?
Singular is when there is only one Object or Subject and Plural is when the
Object or Subject is more than one.

SINGULAR PLURAL
a ball two balls
a banana three bananas
a cup four cups
an apple five apples
a tiger six tigers

To make the plural form of most nouns, we need to add ‘s’ after the noun.

SINGULAR PLURAL
Baby Babies
City Cities

When the noun ends with ‘y’ and a consonant in front of it, we need to change
the letter ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es’ after ‘i’.

SINGULAR PLURAL
thief thieves
Wife wives

When the noun ends with ‘f’ or ‘fe’, we need to change the ‘f’ or ‘fe’ to ‘v’ and
add ‘es’ after ‘v’.
 SINGULAR PLURAL
dish dishes
match matches
class classes
box Boxes

When the noun ends with ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ss’, and ‘x’, we need to add ‘es’ behind
them.
SINGULAR PLURAL
tomato tomatoes
potato potatoes
zoo zoos
radio radios

When the noun ends with an ‘o’ and a consonant in front of it, we need to add
‘es’. But, if the noun ends with an ‘o’ and a vowel in front of it, we need to add
‘s’.
 CHAPTER VI
COUNT AND NONCOUNT NOUNS
6.1. Nouns: Count and Noncount
SINGULAR PLURAL
Balls
A ball
COUNT Two balls Singular: a or one + s
or
NOUN Some balls Plural: noun + s
One ball
A lot of balls
Singular: does not use a or
NONCOUNT Some mail one
Mail
NOUN A lot of mail Plural: does not have plural
form (no ‘s’)

COMMON NONCOUNT NOUNS

Advice Money Cheese Rice
Mail Music Bread Salt
Furniture Traffic Food Soup
Homework Vocabulary Fruit Milk
Information Weather Meat Tea
Jewelry Work Sugar Water
Luck Pepper Coffee

6.2. Using An or A
a. A dog is an animal
A and an are used in front of singular count nouns.
b. - I work in an office.
- Mr. Lee is an old man.
 Use an in front of words that begin with the vowel sounds; an apartment,
an elephant, an idea, an ocean, an hour.
c. I have an uncle and he works at a university.
Use an if the word begins with ‘u’ and has a vowel sound: an uncle, an aunt
(/ᴧŋkl/ or /ᴧŋkǝl/, /ɑ:nt/ or /ænt/).
Use a if the word begins with ‘u’ and has a /ju/ sound: a university, a usual
event (/ju:nivɜ:siti/, /ju:ʒʊǝl/).

6.3. Using A/AN and Some

a. I have a pencil.
A/an is used in front of singular count nouns.
In this sentence, ‘pencil’ is a singular count noun.
b. I have some pencils.
Some is used in front of plural count nouns.
In this sentence, ‘pencils’ is a plural count noun.
c. I have some milk.
Some can also be used in front of noncount nouns.
In this sentence, ‘milk’ is a noncount noun.
 CHAPTER XI
EXPRESSING ABILITY
11.1. Using can
Can is a modal verb that is used to say ability and possibility. Unlike other
verbs, we don’t add ‘s’ or ‘es’ behind the verb after can.
For example:
He can cook Italian dishes.
This sentence means ‘he’ has the ability to cook Italian dishes.
We can go to the market later.
This sentence means it is possible for ‘we’ to go to the market later.
They can write a book together.
This sentence means ‘they’ have the ability or possibility to write a book
together.

The negative form of can is cannot (can + not) which can be contracted to
can’t.
For example:
She cannot speak English.
This sentence means ‘she’ doesn’t have the ability to speak English.
I can’t buy food now.
This sentence means ‘I’ doesn’t have the ability or possibility to buy food right
now.
You can’t visit him today.
This sentence means ‘you’ don’t have the ability or possibility to visit ‘him’
today.
11.2. Pronunciation of can and can’t
Can and can’t have similar pronunciation. Can is pronounced as /kǝn/ or /kæn/
in both American and British accent. Can’t is pronounced as /kænt/ or /kæn/ in
American accent and /kɑ:nt/ or /kɑ:n/ in British accent.

/kǝn/ is usually used when we ask questions, while /kæn/ is used in short
answers and other sentences.
For example:
Can /kǝn/ you give me a glass of water?
Yes, I can /kæn/.
Yes, I can /kæn/ give you a glass of water.

American accent pronounce can’t the same way as can, while British accent
pronounce them differently. Both American and British accent might not spell
/t/ when it is at the end of the word (can’t, don’t, won’t, etc), especially in
casual or informal situations, because of that, people might mishear when
Americans say can’t since it sounds similar to can.
For example:
Can you help me?
A: Sorry, no, I can’t /kæn/ help you right now. (The person is an American.)
B: Sorry, no, I can’t /kɑ:n/ help you. He can help you anyway. (The person is a
British.)
Come here, A. Help me.
A: I told you, I can’t /kænt/.
Oh, sorry, I thought you said you can.

11.3. Using can: questions

To ask questions using can, we change the position with the Subject.
For example:
 You can speak French.
Can you speak French?
If we want to use 5W1H, we should put it in front of can.
For example:
What can we buy in this store?
How can you run fast?

11.4. Using know how to

Other than can, we can use know how to to say ability. But, we should
remember to add ‘s’ behind know if the Subject is a third person singular (he,
she, it).
For example:
I know how to bake a cake.
This sentence has the same meaning as ‘I can bake a cake’.
He knows how to swim.
This sentence has the same meaning as ‘He can swim’.

We can also use know how to to say disability by adding don’t or doesn’t after
the Subject.
For example:
We don’t know how to use the oven.
This sentence has the same meaning as ‘We can’t use the oven’.
She doesn’t know how to parallel park.
This sentence has the same meaning as ‘She can’t parallel park’.

To ask using know how to, we put the phrase after the Subject and put do or
does before the Subject.
For example:
Do you know how to play this game?
 Does it know how to direct you to the store?

11.5. Using could: past of can

To use can or can’t in Past Tense, we use could or couldn’t (could not).
For example:
I could finish my homework yesterday.
He could eat three plates of fried rice a few days ago.
We couldn’t go last night because we were tired.
She could not buy the dress this morning because the store is not open yet.

To ask using could, we put the verb in front of the subject, changing the
position with the Subject.
For example:
Could you finish the dinner last night?
Could they wash all of the dishes yesterday?
Could she study yesterday?

11.6. Using be able to

We can also use be able to to say ability or possibility.
For example:
I am able to drive a car.
This sentence has the same meaning as “I can drive a car.”
He is able to solve this puzzle.
This sentence has the same meaning as “He can solve this puzzle.”

If we want to use be able to to say disability or impossibility, we use be (am, is,

are) not able to.
For example:
She is not (or isn’t) able to come to the class today.
 They are not (or aren’t) able to start the game now.
To use be able to in past tense, we use be (was/were) able to or wasn’t/weren’t
(was not/were not) able to.
For example:
She was able to visit you a few times last year.
We were able to put off the fire last night.
I was not able to finish the homework before the teacher asked to submit it.
They weren’t able to see that night because the lights were out.

To ask using be able to in past tense, we use be + Subject + able to; just like
when we use can, we change the position with the Subject.
For example:
Was he able to change the light bulb this morning?
Were they able to clean your house before you got home from work?

11.7. Using very and too + adjectives

Very and too are words used to strengthen adjective in a sentence. Both should
be put in front of the adjective. But, these two words have different meaning.
Very only strengthen the adjective, while too implement that the adjective is
more than what we expect.
For example:
This roller coaster is very scary. I can ride it.
This roller coaster is too scary. I can’t ride it.
The first sentence means the person is scared of the roller coaster but still has
the ability (courage or desire) to ride it and the second sentence means the
person is really scared of the roller coaster that they don’t have the ability to
ride it.
 Another example:
Your hair brush is very old, but you don’t have to buy a new one.
Your hair brush is too old. You need to buy a new one.
The first sentence means they can still use their hair brush while the second
sentence means they can’t use their brush anymore.

11.8. Using two, too, and to

Two, too, and to have the same pronunciation, /tu:/, but they have different
usage.
Two is a number, which we use to say the amount of something or as the
number itself (time). Too means ‘also’ or ‘over’. To means ‘for’ or ‘toward’.
But, to is also an infinitive.
For example:
It is two in the afternoon. Seeing those two people going to the restaurant to eat
makes me want to eat too, although I am too full to eat.

The first two is used to say time and the second is used to say the amount of
people ‘I’ see. The first to means ‘toward’, the second means ‘for’, and the last
two are used as an infinitive. The first too means ‘also’ and the second means
‘over’.

11.9. More about prepositions: at and in for place

At and in are both prepositions. But, they have different meaning and usage.
For example:
I am at a university in Batam right now. They have a lot of students here but it
looks empty in the hall. It is because they are studying in their classes now.
While waiting for the students to get out of their classes, I want to try the
cheapest menu at the nearby restaurant.
As we can see, at is used in front of general places or buildings (university,
restaurant) and doesn’t necessarily mean the Subject is inside the building,
while in is used in front of specific places (Batam, hall, class) and can mean the
Subject is inside the place.