CONTENTS

BETTERENGLISHGRAMMAR

GRAMMAR
THESENTENCEANDTHEPARAGRAPH
Thesentence
Minorsentences
Majorsentences
Subjectandpredicate
Subject
Predicate
Object
Directobject
Indirectobject
Complement
Punctuationofsentences
Typesofsentence
Statements
Negativesentences
Questions


Yes-noquestions
Tagquestions
Wh-questions
Alternativequestions
Exclamatoryquestions

Rhetoricalquestions
Questionbytoneofvoice

Directives
Exclamations
Kindsofsentence
Simplesentences
Multiplesentences
Compoundsentences
Complexsentences

Theparagraph
EXERCISES1
ANSWERS1
CLAUSES,PHRASESANDPHRASALVERBS
Clauses
Mainclause
Punctuationandmainclauses

Subordinateclause
Adverbialclause
Typesofadverbialclause
adverbialclauseoftime
adverbialclauseofplace
adverbialclauseofpurpose
adverbialclauseofreason
adverbialclauseofresult
adverbialclauseofcondition
adverbialclauseofmanner
adverbialclauseofconcession



Comparativeclause
Relativeclause
Typesofrelativeclause
Definingrelativeclause
Non-definingrelativeclause
Punctuationinrelativeclauses
Prepositionsinrelativeclauses

Nounclauseornominalclause
Commentclause
Phrases
Nounphrase
Adjectivephrase
Adverbphrase
Prepositionphrase
Participialphrase
Phrasalverbs
Positionofobjectinphrasalverbs
EXERCISES2
ANSWERS2
PARTSofSpeechI
Mainpartsofspeech
Nouns
Commonandpropernouns
Concreteandabstractnouns
Countableanduncountablenouns
Verbalnoun
Collectivenouns

Singularandpluralformsofnouns
Regularsingularformsofnouns
Regularpluralformsofnouns
Irregularpluralformsofnouns


Foreignpluralformsofnouns
Unchangingpluralform
Nounsusedonlyinthepluralform

Genderofnouns
Dualgender
Feminineforms
Personincompoundnouns

Compoundnouns
Pluralformsofcompoundnouns

Nounsandnounphrasesinapposition
Pronouns
Personalpronouns
Iandwe:thefirstpersonpersonalpronoun
You:thesecondpersonpersonalpronoun
He,she,itandthey:thethirdpersonpersonalpronoun

Possessivepronouns
Reflexivepronouns
Reciprocalpronouns
Demonstrativepronouns
Indefinitepronouns

Distributivepronouns
Interrogativepronouns
Relativepronouns
EXERCISES3
ANSWERS3
PARTSOFSPEECHII
Adjectives
Gradableandnon-gradableadjectives
Positionofadjectives
Attributiveadjectives
Predicativeadjectives


Post-modifiers
Qualitativeadjectives
Classifyingadjectives
Colouradjectives
Numberadjectives
Emphaticadjectives
Interrogativeadjectives
Demonstrativeadjectives
Possessiveadjectives
Compoundadjectives
Orderofadjectives
Adjectivesusedasnouns
Adjectiveoradverb?
Comparativeformsofadjectives
Comparativeandnumberofsyllables
Irregularcomparatives
Nocomparativeform


Superlativeforms
Irregularsuperlatives
Nosuperlativeform

Determiners
Typesofdeterminer
Definiteandindefinitearticles
Definitearticle
Indefinitearticle
Demonstrativedeterminers
Possessivedeterminers
Indefinitedeterminers
Numberdeterminers

EXERCISES4
ANSWERS4
PARTSOFSPEECHIII


Verbs
Regularverbs
Irregularverbs
Categoriesofirregularverbs

Tense
Presenttense
Simplepresenttense
Continuouspresenttense


Pasttense
Simplepasttense
Continuouspasttense

Perfecttense
Continuouspresentperfecttense
Pastperfecttense

Futuretense
Traditionalgrammar
Modernusage
Otherwaysofreferringtothefuture

Mood
Indicativemood
Imperativemood
Subjunctivemood
Voice
Activevoice
Passivevoice
Transitiveverbandintransitiveverb
Linkingverb
Auxiliaryverb
Modalauxiliaryverb
Concord
Partsofaverb
Infinitive
Participles
Presentparticiple



Pastparticiple

EXERCISES5
ANSWERS5
PARTSOFSPEECHIV
Adverbs
Typesofadverb
Adverbsoftime
Adverbsoffrequency
Adverbsofduration
Adverbsofplace
Adverbsofmanner
Adverbsofdegree
Adverbsofemphasis

Interrogativeadverbs
Prepositions
Simpleprepositions
Complexprepositions
Conjunctions
Coordinatingconjunctions
Subordinatingconjunctions
Subordinatingconjunctionsintroducingadverbialclauses

EXERCISES6
ANSWERS6

PUNCTUATION
THEIMPORTANCEOFPUNCTUATION

Fullstop
Thefullstopandabbreviations


Thefullstopinemailandwebsiteaddresses
Questionmark
Exclamationmark
Capitalletter
EXERCISES7
ANSWERS7
Comma
Thecommaasseparatingdeviceinlists
Thecommaasaseparatingdeviceinalistofadjectives
Commasandrelativeclauses
Commasandsubordinateclauses
Thecommaasaseparatingdeviceinclausesjoinedbycoordinating
conjunctions
Thecommaasseparatingdevicewithinitialphrases
Thecommawithtermsofaddress
Thecommawithquestiontags
Thecommawithinterjections
Thecommausedinpairsasameansofseparationorparenthesis
Thecommawithnounsorphrasesinapposition
Thecommaandnumbers
EXERCISES8
ANSWERS8
Brackets
Dash
Semicolon
Thesemicolonasalink

Thesemicolonasaseparationdeviceinlists
Thesemicolonasseparationdeviceinlistsofwordgroupsalready


containingcommas
Thesemicolonasaseparationdevicebeforecertainadverbs
Colon
Thecolonasaseparatingdeviceinatwo-partsentence
Thecolonasalinkingdeviceorintroduction
EXERCISES9
ANSWERS9
Hyphen
Thehypheninword-breaks
EXERCISES10
ANSWERS10
Quotationmarks
Quotationmarksanddirectspeech
Quotationmarksandparagraphs
Quotationmarksanddialogue
Otherusesofquotationmarks
Quotationmarksandtitles
Quotationmarksandadirectquotation

EXERCISES11
ANSWERS11
Otherpunctuationmarks
Apostrophe
Asterisk
Three-dotellipsis
Oblique



EXERCISES12
ANSWERS12

DEVELOPINGYOUROWNSTYLE
STYLE
Sentencestyle
Sentencelength
Themiddleway
Sentencestructure
Compoundsentences
Complexsentences
Vocabulary
Activeandpassivevocabulary
Increasingyourwordpower
Dictionariesandthesauruses

Register
Keepitsimple
Addingvariety
EXERCISES13
ANSWERS13
EXERCISES14
ANSWERS14

WORDSTHATMAYCONFUSE
IDIOMS,CLICHÉSANDEVERYDAYPHRASES



Commonidioms
Clichés
Everydayphrases
Homophones
Homonyms
Homographsandheteronyms


BETTERENGLISHGRAMMAR
Never has there been a greater need to make sure that you write and speak
‘good’English.ThisistrueofpeopleincountriessuchastheUKwhereEnglish
is the native language and of people in countries where English is a second or
foreign language. In countries where English is the language of business, a
markedemphasisisnowbeingplacedontheneedforcompetentcommunicative
skills in the workplace. Although life in the modern world is generally less
formalthanitwasandpeopleinpersonal,academicandbusinesscontextswrite
considerably fewer letters than formerly, they are often still required to
demonstrate their powers of written communication in the classroom and the
workplace. For example, they might have to write a report for presentation to
theirworkcolleagues.
Whenitcomestocorrespondence,emailsmayhavetakenoverfromformal
letters to a large extent but it reflects badly on a person if their emails are
sloppilywrittenandfulloferrors.Thecomputerspellcheckercanonlyhelpyou
outtosomeextent.Manyemployerscomplainthatasignificantnumberofthe
peoplewhomtheyrecruitforjobsaresadlylackingintheseskills.Thisistrue
evenofyoungpeoplewhohavejustgraduatedfromsomeofthetopuniversities.
You might think that grammar and spelling are trivial matters, that they’re
justnotthatimportantinyourlineofwork.Youmightthinkthataslongasthe
facts are correct, what does it matter if the grammar is bad? However, poor
grammarreflectsbadlyonyou—youmightmissoutonajobopportunity,you

mightnotbetakenseriouslywhenmakingacomplaint,youcouldevenputoffa
potential Internet date—all because of terrible grammar and sloppy spelling.
Any public display of poor language skills can give a very bad impression of
eventhemostintelligentperson.
Atthesametime,theimportanceofEnglishasaworldlanguagecontinuesto
grow. In fact, there are many versions of Standard English spoken around the
world: British, American, Canadian, Australian, Indian, South African, New
Zealandandmore.Allhaverichvariationsinvocabulary,syntax,semanticsand
grammar.MoreandmorepeopleinothercountriesareanxioustolearnEnglish
andthereisanever-increasingdemandbothforteachersofEnglishasasecond


orforeignlanguageandforeffectiveteachingmaterialsintheseareas.
But what is ‘good’ English or even correct English? Don’t those of us who
learnitasanativetongueatourmother’skneeautomaticallyspeakandwriteit
correctly?Alas,theanswertothatisno.Nativespeakersobviouslyhavemuch
less of a struggle learning to speak good English than learners of English as a
foreignorsecondlanguagedo,buttheprocessisnoteffort-free.
GoodorcorrectEnglishisoftenregardedasgrammaticalEnglish.Grammar
hasbeenvariouslydescribedastheframeworkonwhichideasarehung,andthe
cement that binds words together. Basically, grammar refers to the rules that
govern the way a language works. Society cannot operate without rules and
neithercanlanguage.
The prospect of learning grammar is more likely to depress those whose
nativetongueisEnglish.LearnersofEnglishasasecondorforeignlanguageare
used to having to come to grips with the grammar of their own languages and
willnotprotestsomuch.
Often, the first time that people come into contact with written rules of
grammariswhentheycometolearnaforeignlanguage.Thelanguageisbroken
up into vocabulary, parts of speech, regular and irregular verbs, tenses,

agreements and structures, etc. The rules of this foreign language seem more
explicit, more ‘grammatical’ than that of our own, but, of course, our own
languagehassuchrules,it’sjustthatwedon’tnoticethem.
It might be surprising to hear that, if your first language is English, you do
already know some English grammar. You can speak the language, you
understandothers,youcanrespondandmakeyourselfunderstood.Forexample,
we automatically know the difference in structure between a question (Can I
havethat?)andacommand(Givemethat!).
You started to learn English grammar as an infant without consciously
knowing you were doing so. You learned what were the correct structures and
combinationsofwordsthroughhearingothersspeakand—onceyoulearnedhow
toread—throughthewrittenword.Perhapswhatyoudon’tknowaboutarethe
prescriptive rules that have been devised to describe English grammar. They
usedtobetaughtbyroteinschoolsbutemphasisonthissideofteachingEnglish
haslongsincediedout.
Spoken and written English are enormously different in structure and
formality.Spokendiscourseisoftendisjointed,withsentencefragmentsusedin
preference to complete sentences that would perhaps sound uncomfortably
formal, yet it is easily understood. Even the world’s most articulate and witty
peopledonotalwaysspeakusingperfect,prescriptivelyordered,‘grammatically
correct’ English. Speech also employs stress, rhythm and intonation as an


importantpartofconveyingmeaning.
However,ourwrittenwordsneedstructureandformalitytoconveymeaning
as accurately and unambiguously as possible; and our spoken words can still
sound‘wrong’andgiveabadimpressioniftheformalrulesarenotfollowed.
Grammarhas,overtheyears,gotratherabadpress.Atonepoint,intheUK,
itwassetasidebytheeducationalpowers-that-beasbeinglargelyunnecessary.
Althoughitisnowoftenseenassomethingvaluablethatshouldbebroughtback

into prominence, it is also often seen as something essentially difficult and
boring. This is not the case. It is logical and can be of great interest.
Furthermore,youreallyhavetogettogripswithitifyouwanttoimproveyour
English.
In conclusion, in order to speak and write effectively and confidently in
English, you must know something about the structure of the language. This
bookgivesaclearexplanationofthenutsandboltsofEnglishgrammaraswell
as hints on how to create a better personal writing style incorporating ‘good’
English.

WEBSTER'SWORDPOWER
BettyKirkpatrick,agraduateofEdinburghUniversity,hasalong
careerinreferencepublishing.ShehaseditedChambersTwentieth
Century Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, the concise edition of
Brewer’s Phrase and Fable, and was language consultant to the
EncartaWorldEnglishDictionary.Shehascompiledvariousother
reference books, including the Oxford Paperback Thesaurus and
the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Clichés. She acts as a consultant to
theBloomsburyGoodWordGuide.Bettyisauthorofanextensive
list of publications on various aspects of the English language for
learnersofEnglish.


GRAMMAR
THESENTENCEANDTHEPARAGRAPH
Thesentence
The most important unit of structure is the sentence. Most of the other
grammatical units are parts that go together to form a sentence. However, that
leaves us with the question ‘What is a sentence?’ and there has been some
disputeaboutthedefinition.Thetraditionalviewofthesentenceseemsasgood

a jumping-off point as any—a unit of language that can stand alone and make
sense.
Thefollowingareallcompleteinthemselves,makesenseandare,therefore,
allsentences:Weran.
Theboykickedtheball.
Theyplayedhardandtheywon.
Lookoverthere!


Minorsentences
Thefollowingexamplesarealsoallcompleteinthemselvesandmakesenseand
are, therefore, sentences. They are known as minor sentences or irregular
sentences.
They are called minor sentences because they lack some of the other usual
grammaticalfeaturesofasentence.Forexample,aminorsentenceoftenlacksa
subjectandapredicate.
Minor sentences are most common in spoken English and in conversation in
literaryfiction.TheyarealsocommonincertainkindsofwrittenEnglishsuchas
notices,labelsandadverts.Thefollowingareexamplesofminorsentences:No!
Nonsense!
Howterrible!
Whataview!
Goodtry!
Noway!
Taxi!
Poison!
Noentry.
Welldone!
Oncebitten,twiceshy.



Majorsentences
Othersentencesareknownasmajorsentencesorregularsentences.Amajor
sentenceusuallyhasasubject(see1)andpredicate(see1).Thefollowingare
examplesofmajorsentences:Weran.
Theboykickedtheball.
Motherbakedacake.
Sheleavestomorrow.
Theyarecomingtotown.
Shestudiedhard,butshefailedtheexam.
IcalledhimwhenIarrived.


Subjectandpredicate
Basically, a sentence is a combination of two grammatical units—the subject
(see1,2,3)andthepredicate(see1,2,3).

Subject
Thesubject(see4)ofasentencereferstowhatthesentenceisabout,oftenthe
personorthingthatcarriesouttheactionoftheverb.Thesubjectusuallygives
aclearideaofwhatthesentenceisabout.
The subject can be a noun—either a common noun or a proper noun or a
verbalnoun;anounphrase;apronoun;asubordinateclause;aninfinitive.
Inthefollowingsentencestheunderlinedwordsformthesubjectofthesentence
andthesubjectsarenouns:Dogsneedalotofexercise.
Childrenplayinthepark.
Moneyisextremelyimportanttohim.
Marriageisnotforhim,hesays.
Accommodationisexpensiveinthatarea.
Peoplearebeginningtoleave.

Janeisgivingaparty.
Jimhasresigned.
ParisisthecapitalofFrance.
Mountaineeringcanbedangerous.
Dancingisherfavouritepastime.
Paintingcanbeaformofrelaxation.
Inthefollowingsentencestheunderlinedwordsformthesubjectofthesentence
andthesubjectsarenounphrases:Aheatwavehasbeenforecast.
Severalunhappyemployeeshavecomplainedtothemanagement.
Thelargeblackdogboundeduptothechild.
Thoseterriblefloodsaffectedmanypeople.
Representativesfromthefirmhaveissuedastatementtostaff.
James,mybrother-in-lawanddearfriend,hasjustdied.


Inthefollowingsentencestheunderlinedwordsformthesubjectofthesentence
andthesubjectsarepronouns:Theywerefoundguilty.
Wewonthebattle.
Youhavepassedtheexam.
Hedeniedthecharge.
Shelostherweddingring.
Ithasbrokendownagain.
Inthefollowingsentencestheunderlinedwordsformthesubjectofthesentence
andthesubjectsaresubordinateclauses:Whoshewasremainedamystery.
Whyhelefthasnotyetbeenrevealed.
Whathesaysisnottrue.
Whenhewillgohasnotyetbeendecided.
Inthefollowingsentencestheunderlinedwordsformthesubjectofthesentence
andthesubjectsareinfinitives:Todothatwouldbeunforgivable.
Togetthereisgoingtobeverydifficult.

Tomarryyoungishermainaim.
Togetthroughyourexamsshouldbeyourprincipalconcern.
NB:Dummysubject
A dummy subject sometimes has no intrinsic meaning but is inserted to
maintainabalancedgrammaticalstructure.


Inthesentences
Ithasstartedtorain.


and
Itisnearlymidnight.
thewordItisadummysubject.


Inthesentences
Thereisnothingelsetosay.