GRAMMAR & STRUCTURES GRAMMAR & STRUCTURES MODULE 01MODULE 01

Grammar Review Grammar Review -- 0101

Shield Library, University of California

Prof. Salengke, Ph. D.Agricultural Engineering, Hasanuddin University

Quote of the dayQuote of the day

• Time is life because time is the most precious thing we have.

Wasting time is wasting life !!!

Normal Sentence PatternNormal Sentence Pattern

Subject + verb + complement + modifierSubject + verb + complement + modifier

SubjectSubject

• Subject is the agent of the sentence in active voice.

• The person or thing that performs the action.

• It normally precedes the verb.

Note: Every sentence in English must have a subject

Examples:

Coffee is delicious.

Milk contains a lot of calcium.

Those books are very good.

The girls are gorgeous and smart.

The bank closed at three o’clock.

Subject can act as a pronoun for a noun:

It rains quite often here in December.

It is hard to believe that Bill Gate dropped out of school.

There can act as a pseudo-subject. The true subject appear after the verb and the number of the true subject controls the verb.

There was a big fire in Makassar last month.

Was there a big fire in Kalimantan forests last month?

There were many students in this room.

Were there many students in other rooms?

VerbVerb• In a declarative sentence, the verb follows the

subject.• It generally shows the action of the sentence.• The verb may be a verb phrase which consist of

one or more auxiliaries and one main verb.

Note: Every sentence must have a verb.

The verb may be a single word:

Lazy professors hate to teach class.

We walked around Unhas campus yesterday.

Many students ride motor cycle to campus.

Students at Hasanuddin University haveprotested rector’s policy of no “Ospek”.

The verb may be a The verb may be a verb phrase verb phrase which which consists of one or more auxiliaries and consists of one or more auxiliaries and one main verbone main verb

Agriculture students will go to Malino for a camping trip.

My lazy professor has gone home for a long afternoon nap.

He has been sleeping for four hours.

ComplementComplement• A complement completes the verb• It usually a noun or noun phrase• It generally follows the verb when the

sentence is in the active voice• Complement cannot begin with a

preposition• It answers the question what? Or whom?

Examples of complement:Examples of complement:

This class will cover a new subject each week.

The dumb professor always teacheslousy subjects.

I will meet an old friend on the way to heaven.

Einstein proposed The Theory of Relativity.

ModifierModifier• A modifier tells time, place, or manner of the

action• Very often it is a prepositional phrase (a group of

words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun).

• A modifier of time usually comes last if more than one modifier is present.

• A modifier can be an adverb or an adverbial phrase.

• It answers the question when?, where?, or how?

Examples of Modifiers:Examples of Modifiers:

Some professors like to write lecture materials in their offices in the morning.

Most students ride their motor cycle very fast on the street.

The English class meets in this room every Wednesday.

The hikers climbed to the top of the mountain carefully.

Noun PhraseNoun Phrase• A group of words that ends with a

noun.• It can contain determiners (the, a,

this, that, etc.), adjectives, adverbs, and noun.

• It cannot begin with a preposition.

Count nounCount noun• Noun that can be counted

book – one book, ten books,…tooth – one tooth, two teeth…person – one hundred peopleman – one man, two men, …professor – one bad professor, a lot of good professors

Irregular Count NounIrregular Count Noun

• Nouns that do not end with “s” in the plural form.

person childtoothfootmousemanwoman

peoplechildrenteethfeetmicemenwomen

Singular Plural

NonNon--count nouncount noun• Noun that cannot be counted

milk, coffee, sugar, sand, soap, air, meat, homework, money, honey, food, information, advertising, news, measles, mumps, economics, physics, mathematics, politics.

Note: Although advertising is a non-count noun, advertisement is a count noun. If you want to speak of one particular advertisement, you must use this word!!

Example:

There are too many advertisementsduring television shows.

There is too much advertising during television shows.

It is possible to count some non-count nouns If the substance is placed in a countable containers

Glass of milk – one glass of milk, two glasses of milk, …

Bag of sugar – one bag of sugar, five bags of sugar, …

To indicate different types, some non-count noun such as food, meat, money, and sand may be used as count nouns

Examples:

This is one of the foods that my doctor has forbidden me to eat.

He studied meats in college.

The word “time” can be either countable or non-countable depending on the context. When it means an occasion, it is countable. When it means a number of hours, days, years, etc., it is non-countable.Examples:

We have spent too much time on this homework. (non-count)

She has been late for class six times this semester. (count)

DeterminersDeterminers

a(n)thesome, anythis, thatthese, thoseoneone, two, three, ….manya lot ofa large number of a great number of(a)few fewer … thanmore…than

count nouns:count nouns: nonnon--count nouns:count nouns:

thesome, anythis, thatnone

much (usually in negatives or questions),

a lot ofa large amount of

(a)littleless…thanmore…than

Determiners “a” and “an”• a or an can precede only singular count

nouns; they mean one.• They can be used in a general statement.• They can be used to introduce a subject

which has not been previously mentioned.• a must be used when the noun it precedes

begins with a consonant or consonant sound.• an must be used when the noun it precedes

begins with a vowel or vowel sound.

ExamplesExamples• A soccer ball is round.• I was approached by a thug last weekend and offered me

an apple.• A friend of mine bought a house in the suburb.• The reality show on TV last night lasted for an hour.• You’d better take an umbrella with you since there will be a

thunderstorm late in the afternoon.• A university graduate is likely to get better salary than a

high school graduate.• He gave a eulogy at General Yusuf’s funeral.• An heir to the late King donated millions of dollars to an

orphanage.

• The following words begin with a consonant sound and thus must always be preceded by “aa”

European house uniform eulogy home universityeuphemism heavy universaleucalyptus half union

• The following words begin with a vowel sound and thus must always be precedes by “an”

hour uncleheir umbrellaherbal unnaturalhonor understanding

TheThe• The is used to indicate something that

we already know about or something that is common knowledge.

The moon is much smaller than the earth.The girl in the latest James Bond movie is gorgeous.The Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship from French to The United States.

• For non-count noun, use the article “the” if speaking in specific terms, but uses no article if speaking in general.

Sugar is sweet.The sugar sold at Carrefour is imported from Cuba.Water is the best solvent for most chemicals.The water that they gave us was produced by Aqua.Coffee is delicious.The coffee I bought from Starbuck was very strong.

• Plural nouns are not preceded by thewhen they mean everything within a certain class.

Oranges are green until they ripen. (all oranges)

Students are required to attend classes. (all students)

Doctors must complete their residency before they are allowed to practice medicine. (all doctors)

• Words such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, school, church, mosque, home, college, and work does not need any article unless to restrict the meaning.

We usually eat breakfast at eight o’clock. We will go to student cafeteria for lunch.The lunch sold at the cafeteria is quite good.Dinner will be served at 7:30.The dinner served at the dorm dining hall is good. Americans attend college at younger age.He goes to mosque regularly.Asrul came home late.

•• Use Use thethe with:with: oceans, rivers, seas, gulfs, plural lakes, mountain, earth,

and moon. school, colleges, universities (when the phrase begins with

school, colleges or universities). ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) before nouns, wars

(except world wars). certain countries or group of countries with more than one

word (except Great Britain). Historical documents (the Constitution, the Magna Carta). Ethnic groups (the buginese, the javanese, the bataknese,

the dayak, the maduran, the Indian, the Aztecs, the Aborigine, the Papuas).

GENERALIZATIONGENERALIZATION

•• Do not use Do not use thethe with:with: Singular lakes, mounts, planets,

constellations. Schools, colleges, or universities (when the

phrase begins with a proper noun). Cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) after nouns. Countries preceded by New or an adjective

such as a direction. Countries with only one word. Continents, states, sport, abstract nouns,

general area of subject matters, holidays.