CONTENTSPreface ir

PART I GRAMMARBASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE 2

l Subiect and Predicate 3rr .

' [ 'ho rndepenclcnt c l : rust ,

b. Thc r , t ' rb phr i rsec . [ ) os r t i on o l t h t , sub lec tc l . Wha t nu t t o c l o u i t h t h t , su l r j t ' r ' te . I " i l L ' r su l r j t ' c t s 11 a t r d l l l i , / 1 '1 . S i x l r r r s i t f t qu l r ( ' n l en t s

2. Phrases and C' lauses 15r r . l ) ack i ng i r s ( ' n t ( , nc ( , r v i t h i n l i r r r r r l r t i i i nb . A d d i n g i n f o r r n u t i o t r l t t h t ' b t ' g i n r r i n gc N ' I od i1 r ' i ng r r nd i den t i l r ' j ng t h ( ' sub . l ( ' ( td . I ns t ' r t i ng i r d t l r t i on l r l i n [ i r r n r l r t i ont , . Add ing r ve r l rf . F , x l x rnd inu t l r t ' ob j cc tg . ; \ dd i ng i n t i r r n l r t i on i r t t h t , t ' n t l

3. Quest ions and Negat ivcs 26i t . ' l 'h t ' lorr r t o l q u r ,s t io nsl r l lTr .v i rnt l t t l t r t l l i r r ' lt . Nt ,gat iv t 'st l . A l t t ' r n r r t . r v t ' l i i r r r r s o l n t ' g r r t i o r rr ' .

' l 'a{ qut .st ionsI . ' l ' ag t l r r l s t i ons : sun tn l l l l \

NOUN PHRASES 364. Propcr Nouns :17

i r . ( l ; r l t ' go r i c sl r . ' \ r t i t l o us ( , : sun ln r : r r vc . A r l i c l t ' s u r t h s i ngu l : r r J ) r o l ) ( . l nounsd . A l t r cL , s u r t h p l r r r a l p r ( r l ) { , r l t ( ) L t ns

5. Count: rb le and Uncountable Nouns 4- , t: 1 . ( on l n to l t nounsb . ( l o r r n ta l r l t , no t r nsc . I ' l u l r r l I o r r r r s o l co r rn t l r l l l t ' no r r r r sr l . L l ncou r r t a l t l ( ' n { ) u l t sr ' . ( ) u l r n t i t v r vo r t l sL l i , r l l nd a / i , z r 'g . Mc l r s r r l r , u ' o r r l s

6. Art ic lcs 57i t . I ) e t t ' r n r i nc r - s and : r r t i c l t , sb . Spcc i f i c n ' l i ' r ' cnce : 1 l r r ,c . ( i t ' n t , r ' : r l i z i r t i onsr l . A r t i c l t , s u ' i t h no r rns : sun tn t i l r vt , . I n rpo r t r r n t po ln t s t o r t ' l n t ,m l r t , rf . l r l i o rn l r t i c r r s l r g t

VERI} I'HTiASES 697. Verb Phrases 7O

i i . ( lornplcteb. Act ive and passivec. I ) resent- future and pastd. I lequirements lbr checkrng verb phrases

8. Verb Tenses: Overview 78a . I Jns r c t i r neb. Time beloru, basic t i r r rec. Proglessivt' arction at b:rsrc timed. Verbs not used wi th progressive a-specte. Per lect progressive aspectf . Consistencv of tenses

9. Verb Tenses : Pas t 90: t . I ) r t s t t i r - t - t l t v t r l r l r h l i r t r , .l r . I ' r i t - i r ' l ) i t s i t l t r : r .c . l t l e u u l l l r t ' r i r l o r n r sd . I ) i r : t p l t l i , t ' 1t ' . I ) r t s l l t n t l I r i l s l l ) r ' i l i , ( 1 l ) r ( ) ! l t r s 5 j \ ' ( '1 1 : s , ' r 1 / , t ; t t v l u o t t l t l

10 . Verb ' Ienses : Pres t 'n t i rnd Futur t ' l0 li r . l ) 1 1 , s ( , ! r 1 - l u l u l l ' l ) l t f i r 5 ( , sl r . l l i i l r i t r u r l r r c l i o n, l l . r - r , l j t , - r ' n r \ , . t 1 , I , , r . 1 j r -r l . [ ) r ' r ' t i ' r ' t t r , n s t , st ' . l ) t o g t c s s i t r ' 1 r ' n s t , sL l ) t l l i ' t l l ) r o g l ( ' 5 ( i \ ( '

l l . Moc la l Aux i l i : r r i< 's I l3r r . : \ l r i l i t r . J ) ( ' r n l l s s l ( ) n . g r o l i t l r l r r t ' s t i r r n s i u r r l

s l r r I I l 1 t ( , r r t :i i . \ t l v i s r r l r i l r t r . n ( ' ( ' ( ' s s t t \ ' . n o n ( ' ( ( , s s j t v . p r . o l r i b i t i o nt . f l x l r l c t r l r o r r . p o s s i l r i l i t r ' . ; t n d l o g j c l t l c l t ' c l r r c t i o r rr l . S r n r p l t l o l n r r r l i t , r ' t l t r , r n o d r r l r r L r r i l i a l i t ' sr , l ' h l us t s o l t t o t t l t lL SL r r r r r r r ; r l l c l l r r l

12. Act ivc and Passive 121l r . l " o t n t . , r l l l r r , l l i t s s t r , .l r . I ' s t , s o l t h t ' l t i r " s i r t '( . I ) i r : : r \ ( ' i c l i r , n r s t i t l r g r , 1 t r n c it l ' l ' h r , p r r ss r r t ' r r i t l t r l i r oc l l r r r r lr ' . I J t ' r ' r t r t n t i l , r ' l t t LI I ' r r l t r c i p l t t o r l t ' s c r i l r t ' i t s l l u i t l t o r l

l l l . V t , rb Forms: Summarv l i J6r L I i r ; r ' r r r s o l t h c r r , r ' i rl i ' l ' t o t t l i l t ' - o l t r t ' r ' r . r ' l r l , r l r r r sc .

' l ' l t t ' r ' r ' t l r s \ s 1 ( ' l l i t t i r g l r r n , , '

r l . I ' h l r r s r r l r c l l r s

MODI I ' IF ] ITS 11714. Ad jec t ivcs : rnd N( )un Mod i l ie rs l4 { i

l i . F 'o rnr lu rc l l tos r t l l r o l r td . j t , t - ' l i t t ' sl i . N o t u t s 1 o t l o r l i l r r t o r r n sc . ( ' o r r r l r o r r r r r l l r r i . j r . r ' t i v t sc l . r \ r l . j t , r ' t i v r ' " l i r l r r t t r l l r r r r n 1 / ? t l i ) t n l o r r e t l i u t t

I o t r lt , . A t l . j t ' c t i vcs i r t i r s t , r i t ' sl . . \ r i . i , . r ' t r r , . : l r t , p ( , : t l t , , r r \g . r \ c l j t ' t t r v t s i r r t l o r l r r c i nq r t r l r r c t , r l r ' l l r r r s t , s

15. Advcrbs and F rcquenc;- Adverbs 16ol . f ' o rn r i i nd n ) ( , i u l i i r g o l r r dvc rbsl r . l ) o s t l i o l t o l a r l r l l l r sr ' . , \ t i v t , r l r s n t o d r l r i n g s l x . ( 1 1 i rd . \ i , r ' r . l o t ' . L ' r t o u l l te . Adv r . r ' b s u i l i r r l u t ' n c l r n r r uc l d l e pos i t i ons1 . Adve l bs o l i r t , r l r i cncv : b t , g i nn ing an ( l ( ' r r dg ' l ' ime adve rbs al ld vorb ton-s( '

16. Compar isons 171l . F ornls f i i l l rc i . j t 'c t ivcs and ad\ , ( , rbsb. l l l t ,gul iu i i r r - tnsc. L 'onrparat ive strL lctur( ,sd. , t to l t us Lts. l tk t , . bul . l toLL' t ' ter . tchcrec:se. .11,rs1. t l t t t t tost . i rn i l / /?os/ o/f . l d rnm: r | t , , , , , , - , t l t , t t t ,

" r i , rg. l ' igures of spt ,ech

i n r l t r c t i o l r j r . r ' 1 s

AGREEMENT 18317. Subject-Verb Agreement 184

a. The -s endingb. Subjects and verbsc. Verbs in a sequenced. Tricky singular and plural subjectse. Proximity and ellipstsf. Agreement with adjectival clausesg. There and one of

18. Pronouns and Pronoun Reference 197a. Personal pronounsb. Demonstrative pronounsc. Pronoun ag"eementd. Pronoun referencee. Sentence structuref. Possessive pronouns

VERBALS 20719. Infinitives 208

a. Form and functionsb. As subject and subject complementc. As objectd. After verb + noun phrasee. To modify adjectivesf. To modify nounsg. To express purposeh. Special uses

2O. -ing Forms (Gerunds and Modifiers) 22Oa. Functionsb. Subject and subject complement (gerund in a

noun phrase)c. Object (gerund in a noun phrase)d. Verbs followed by either -ing or infinitive (to +

simple form)e. After a preposition (gerund in a noun phrase)f. After lo as a prepositiong. As an adjectiveh. Phrases substituting for clauses

21. Participle Forrns 232a. Functionsb. And -jzg formsc. After getd. Used toe^ Clause substitute

CONNECTING SENTENCES 24222. Coordinating Conjunctions 243

a. Connecting sentencesb. Avoiding run-ons and the comma splicec. Connecting phrases and other parallel

structuresd. Not only and nore. So, too, either, and neither

23. Transitions 252a. Linking related sentences: the semicolonb. Words and expressionsc. Problems: run-ons and the comma spliced. In contrast and on the contran

COMBIMNG SENTENCES 26024. Adjectival Clauses 261

a. Form and functionb. Relative pronoun as subjectc. Relative pronoun as objectd. Possessive relative pronoune. Relative pronoun with prepositionf . Where, when, what, and, the wayg. Punctuationh. Quantity words with relative pronounsi. Reduced adjectival clauses

25. Noun Clauses and Reported Speech 276a. Form and functionb. Introduced by thatc. Included questionsd. Reported and direct speeche. Documentationf. Verb form in noun clauses

26. Adverbial Clauses 286a. Position and punctuationb. Tirne and placec. Reasond. Because and because oft ' . Resul t and purpose{. Contrastg. Reduced adverbial clausesh. Problems: fragments

27. Adverbial Clauses: Conditions 298a. Featuresb. Real conditions of factc. Real conditions of predictiond. Hypothetical conditions: speculation and weree. Hypothetical conditions of hindsightf. Wishesg. Summary ofconditional adverbial clausesh. Other conjunctionsi. omitted if

PRINCIPLES OF WRIT"TEN DISCOURSE 31028. Style 3ll

a. Clarity and directnessb. Wordinessc. Repetitiond. Old information before newe. Sentence varietyf. Cohesion

29. Punctuation 318a. End-of-sentenceb. Semicolonc. Commad. Colone. Dashes and parenthesesf. Apostropheg. Quotation marks

PART 2 READINGS

Appendir A: Irregular Verbs 371Appendix B: Spelling 374Inder 381

F{OW E,NGLISFI WORKSA Grarnrnat, Hnndboolz with Renilinns

CAMBRIDGE T]NIVERSITY PRESSCambridge, New York, Melboume, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sio Paulo

Cambridge University Press40 West 20th Street, New York, NY I 00 I 1 42 I 1 , USAwww.cambridge.orgInfomation on this title: www.cambridge.oryl978052l657 58'1

@ Cambridge Univenity Press 1998

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions ofrelevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction ofany part may take place withoutthe written permission ofCambridge University Press.

Fist published 19988th printiry 2006

Printed in the United States ofAmerica

ISBN-13 978-0-521-65758-7 Student's BookISBN-10 0-521-65758-X Student's BookISBN-13 978-0-521-65757-0 Instructor's MarualISBN-10 0-521-65757-1 Instructor's Manual

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility forthe persistence or accumcy ofuRr,s for extemal ortlid-parry Intemet Web sites refened to in this publicationatrd does not guamntee that ary content on suchWeb sites is, or will rgmailr, accuate or appropdate.

Acknowledgments arc given on pages 379-380.

This book is dedicated' to rny d'awghtersEwily Ra,imes and. Lucy Rairnes,

whlte a.dventares with langwage c0nst6ntly d:bertand. inspire rne

T i rlltelace:To the Instructor

How English Works: A Grammar Handbook with Readings isdesigned for classroom use with intermediate and advanced studentsof English. Such a range of abilities can easily be addressed in a bookofthis kind: as we teachers know only too well, even advanced studentswho speak and understand English with apparent ease can still makemany errors when they write and can still have surprising gaps inunderstanding.

THE DESIGN OF THE BOOKHow English Works is unique in that it offers grammatical

instruction and exercises based on published readings. Part II containssixteen glossed readings; Part I contains grammar chapters that usethe readings for examples and exercises.

In Part I, each grammar chapter (1 through 27) contains thefollowing:

o An excerpt from one of the sixteen readings in Part II. A series of tasks for inductive analysis of the form and function

of a grammar point in the readingr Explanations of grammar points, with charts, tables, and

examplesr Exercises, both oral and writteno Authentic student writing for editing. A focused writing task that elicits the structure. Editing advice

Chapters 28 and 29 address concerns of style and punctuation.These chapters also provide examples and exercises from the readings.In addition, the appendices provide students with easy access toirregular verb forms and spelling conventions.

The book, with its inductive approach to grammar, has fourdistinctive teaching features: readings, clear presentation ofthe basicprinciples of grammar, a wide variety of exercises, and tasks forwriting and editing.

lx

PREFACE

ReadingsThe grammar points are introduced and illustrated in the

real-life context ofauthentic, unadapted readings. The sixteen glossedreadings cover a variety of topics and levels of difficulty. Thesereadings, from nonfiction, journalism, and textbooks, have beencarefully chosen as representative of the sorts of writing students arelikely to come across at this stage of their studies (in both assignedreading for courses and pleasure reading). Each reading provides theintroductory focus for one or more grammar chapters as well as thebasis for exercises in other chapters.

Why readings? Why not just isolated sentences written toillustrate a grammatical structure? Well, quite apart from the fact thatthey are, I believe, far more interesting in themselves than anypassages concocted with the sole purpose of illustrating grammaticalpoints in a textbook, these readings show students the real thing. Thisis indeed "how English works." Students see grammar in action,grammar as it is used in real life and real language.

Clear Presentation of the Basic Principles of GrammarThe book presents the basic principles of how English works for

general academic purposes. It describes the common, frequently usedstructures of English for intermediate students and for more advancedstudents who have gaps in their knowledge or need review. It explainscommon exceptions to general principles, helping students to makesense of the patterns they see when they read. However, it does notattempt to cover every nuance ofthe language, every exception to everyrule, every facet of specialized disciplines. Students need to knowpatterns that they can rely on, that will work for them rnosl of the time.This book, then, offers broad strokes, not minute detail. Whereverpossible, boxes, charts, and tables are used to clarify and highlightgrammatical structures.

A Wide Variety of ExercisesTo suit as many different learning (and teaching) styles as

possible, the exercises include

. Group tasks

. Individual writing tasks

. Communicative oral exercises

. Error identification exercises

. "Right answer" selection exercisesr Open-ended exercises

PREFACE

. Exercises related to the readings

. Exercises using short, illustrative sentences

Some of the exercises allow students to focus on a grammaticalfeature by presenting it in a short, illustrative pattern sentence of atype familiar to them from other language-learning activities. Manyother exercises, however, use the readings to provide subject matterand context. Exercises designated as "oral" can be used in class.Others, primarily written, can be done in class or as a homeworkassignment. Linguistically challenging exercises' more suitable foradvanced students, are marked with a five-point star ('fr).

Tasks for Writing and EditingHow English Works is based on the premise that students can't

really work on improving their grammar while they are speaking. Thenature of spoken communication simply does not leave room forextensive monitoring or for review of the language produced. While thebook provides frequent opportunity for oral practice, many of itsexercises are designed to focus on reading and writing, when studentshave time to analyze, recall, discuss, and apply principles of grammar.In addition, each chapter ends with a writing task designed to elicit theprinciples of the chapter. Students produce a text they can examineand revise, thus seeing how their English works.

The book links writing and grammar with editing techniques. Atthe end of each chapter, editing guidelines that focus on the grammarprinciple ofthe chapter are presented. Students are encouraged to usewhat they have learned about the workings ofEnglish to correct errorsand make improvements-and they do this both with their ownwriting and with the samples of authentic student writing included ineach chapter.

So in each chapter, reading leads to analysis, which leads to studyof principles followed by practice, which then leads to writing andediting-that is, to the application of principles of grammar.

HOW TO USE THE BOOKHow English Worhs provides you with flexibility. You can begin

with the grammar chapters, referring to the complete readings onlywhen necessary. Or, if your focus is more on accuracy in writing thanon a systematic, overall review of grammar, you can begin with thereadings and their associated writing topics; then you can let thestudents'needs (as revealed in their written assignments) determinewhich grammar chapters you address.

xt

PREFACE

If you want to spend more time with the complete readings beforeturning to grammar analysis, additional activities (under the headings"Preview Questions," "Response Questions," and "Analysis") appear inthe Instructor's Manual. The Instructor's Manual also providesguidelines for organizing a course, teaching the chapters, dealing witherrors, and preparing students for essay examinations, as well as ananswer key for the exercises.

With How English Worhs, my students say that they start to seegrammar as an interesting, vital part of a living language, not just assomething to get right or wrong in textbook sentences. I hope the bookworks as well for you and your students as it has for us.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWarm thanks go to the students in my ESL writing classes at

Hunter College, many of whose names appear in this book. Theyhelped me by working and commenting on exercises developed hereand generously allowed me to include samples of their own writing.Their enthusiasm and willingness to learn were a constant source ofinspiration.

Thanks, too, to the readers of the manuscript at its variousstages, who all took time from their busy schedules to read with greatcare and sensitivity: Margaret Lindstrom, Colorado State University;Patrick Aquilina, American Language Program, Columbia University;Robert Kantor, Ohio State University; Stephen Thewlis, San FranciscoState University; Cheryl Ruggiero, Virginia Polltechnic; and AmySales, Boston University. I am grateful to all of them for their valuableadvice.

All the staff members at St. Martin's Press continue to impressme with their creativity and efficiency. It was especially rewarding towork with Joyce Hinnefeld, project editor, who kept track of cuts,changes, and last-minute revising without getting flustered. SusanAnker, editor-in-chief, helped guide the development of this book;thanks go to her again for giving me the benefit of her knowledge,common sense, and warm encouragement.

A colleague once told me that he'd noticed how acknowledgmentsin my books always mentioned my family and seemed to escalate inpraise of their contribution. No wonder. By the sixth or seventh book,they must be tired of seeing me sitting at my processor while theymake dinner and do all those nasty household chores. So at the risk ofrepetition and even more escalation, I'll end again by acknowledgingmy huge debt to James, Emily, and Lucy Raimes. So much of this isreally their book.

xll

ANN RArlrns

Contents

Preface: To the Instructor ix

PART I GRAMMAR

Basic Sentence Structure 21. Subject and Predicate 3

a. The independent clause: subject * verb 4b. The verb phrase 5c. The position ofthe subject 8d. What not to do with the subject of the sentence Ie. Filler subjects it and there 10f. The six basic requirements of a written sentence 11

SELECTED READING PASSAGESEpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334

2 . Phrases and Clauses 15a. Packing a sentence with information 16b. Adding information at the beginning 17c. Including information to modify and identify the subject 18d. Inserting additional information after the subject 19e. Adding a verb 20f. Expanding the object: direct and indirect object 20g. Adding information about the sentence at the end 22

SELECTED READING PASSAGESEpHRoN, Room With View-And No People 334

3. Questions and Negatives 26a. The form ofquestions 26b. Why? and what for? 29c. Negatives 29d. Alternative forms of negation 30

xllr

CONTENTS

e. Tag questions 32f. Tag questions: summary 32

SELECTED READING PASSAGESnox. The Doctors'Dilemma 337rrroMAs, Tau Ceti 355EpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334

Noun Phrases 364. Proper Nouns 37

a. Categories of proper nouns 37b. Article use with proper nouns: summary 38c. Articles with singular proper nouns 39d. Articles with plural proper nouns 39

SELECTED READING PASSAGESrrAPGooD, The Soybean 339EpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334

5 . Countable and Uncountable Nouns 45a. Common nouns and their markers 46b. Countable nouns 47c. Plural forms of countable nouns 48d. Uncountable nouns 50e. Quantity words with countable and uncountable nouns 52f. Few and a feut 54g. Measure words 55

SELECTED READING PASSAGESnox, The Doctors'Dilemma 337EpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334BAKER, The Surprise 342

6 . Articles 57a. Determiners and articles 58b. Specific reference: the 58c. Nonspecific reference and generalizations 60d. Articles with proper and common nouns: summary 62e. Important points to remember 63f. Idiomatic usage 66

SELECTED READING PASSAGESBANER, The Surprise 342

xtv

CONTEI{TS

eor, The Doctors'Dilemma 337rrAPGooD, The Soybean 339EpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334

Verb Phrases 69

7 . Verb Phrases 70a. Complete verb phrases 71b. Active and passive verb phrases 72c. The time clusters of verb phrases: present-future and past 73d. Summary of requirements for checking verb phrases 75

SELECTED READING PASSAGEScoMBRIcH, Vincent van Gogh 343srErLA, wrLMS, and lnaxY, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept 367wELCH and wnlcH, Economics and Scarcity 369TAFFEL, Portable Computers 357

8 . Verb Tenses: Overview 78a. Referring to basic time 79b. Referring to time before basic time (perfect aspect) 80c. Referring to an event or action in progress at basic time

(progressiveaspect) 83d. Verbs not used with progressive aspect 84e. Referring to time both before basic and in prog;ess (perfect

progressive aspect) 85f. Consistency of tenses 87

SELECTED READING PASSAGESeurNDLEN, Siblings 345

9 . Verb Tenses: Past 90a. Identifying and using past cluster verb phrases 9lb. Basic past tense 93c. Irregular verb forms 94d. Past perfect 95e. Past progressive and past perfect progressive 97f . Used /o and would 99

SELECTED READING PASSAGESSALZMAN, Cultural Exchanges 347srErLA, wrLMS, and lneuv, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept 367

CONTE].ITS

10 . Verb Tenses: Present and Future 101a. Present-future verb phrases 102b. Basic present for habitual action 102c. Other uses of basic present verb forms 104d. Perfect tenses: present and future 105e. Progressive tenses: present and future 108f. Perfect progressive: present and future 109

SELECTED READING PASSAGESADLER, RosENFELD, and romlE, The Effects of Our Environment 351

1l . Modal Auxiliaries 113a. Meanings of modal auxiliaries: ability, permission, polite

questions and statements 114b. Meanings of modal auxiliaries: advisability, necessity, no

necessity,prohibition 116c. Meanings of modal auxiliaries: expectation, possibility, and

logical deduction 118d. Simple form after the modal auxiliaries 119e. The uses of would 120f. Summary chart 120

SELECTED READING PASSAGESrHoMAs, Tau Ceti 355

12 . Active and Passive 124a. Forms of the passive 125b. Uses of the passive 127c. Passive idioms with get and haue 130d. The passive with direct and indirect objects 131e. Been and being 132f. Participle used to describe a situation 133

SELECTED READING PASSAGESTAFFEL, Portable Computers 357Anr.FRr RosENFELD, and rowNr, White Lies 365EpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334nox, The Doctors'Dilemma 337ADLER, RosENFELD, and TowNE, The Effects ofOur Environment 351c.oMBRrcH, Vincent van Gogh 343

xvt

CONTENTS

13. Verb Forms: Summary 136a. Forms of the verb 137b. Troublesome verb forms 138c. The verb system at a glance 139d. Phrasal verbs 143

SELECTED READING PASSAGESADLER, ROSENFELD, and towNn, The Effects of Our Environment 351sALZMAN, Cultural Exchanges 317coMBRIcH, Vincent van Gogh 313IIAPcooD, The Soybean 339EpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334HILrs, Artificial Intelligence 359

Modifiers 14714 . Adjectives and Noun Modifiers 148

a. Form and position of'adjectives 149b. Nouns used to modify nouns 151c. Compound adjectives 152d. Adjectives formed from the -ing fotm or the participle

(-ed/-eil forrn 153e. Position of adjectives in a series 155f. Adiectives 1- prepositions 156g. Adjectives introducing reduced clauses 157

SELECTED READING PASSAGESHrlrs. Artificial Intelligence 359

15 . Adverbs and Frequency Adverbs 160a. Form and meaning of adverbs 160b. Position of adverbs and adverbial phrases 162c. Adverbs modifying specific constructions in a sentence 162d. Very, too, enough 163e. Adverbs of frequency in middle positions 165f. Adverbs offrequency in other positions: beginning and endg. Time adverbs and verb tense 167

SELECTED READING PASSAGESnar,l The Culture of "Lead Time" 361

166

xvlt

coN'l'uN1's

16. Comparisons l7la. Forms for comparison of adjectives and adverbs 122b. Irregular forms 173c. Comparative structures 175d. Other comparative structures: (not) os . . as, lihe, but, howeuer,

whereas, etc. 176e. Most, the most, and most of 179f. Idiom: the more, the mercier 180g. Figures of speech 181

SELECTED READING PASSAGEScour,D, Sizing Up Human Intelligence JGJHILrs, Artificial Intelligence 359

Agreement 183l7 . Subject-Verb Agreement 184

a. The -s ending 185b. Subjects and verbs 186c. Verbs in a sequence 188d. Tricky singular and plural subjects 189e. Proximity and ellipsis 189f. Agreement with adjectival clauses 191g. There and one of 192

SELECTED READING PASSAGESqUINDLEN, Siblings 345srEILA, wrLMS, and lranry, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept 367

18. Pronouns and Pronoun Reference lg7a. Personal pronouns 198b. Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives 201c. Pronoun agreement: gender and number 201d. Pronoun reference and faulty pronoun reference 202e. Pronouns and sentence structure 203f. Possessive pronouns and adjectives 204

SELECTED READING PASSAGESeurNDLEN, Siblings 345coMBRrcH, Vincent van Gogh 343couI,D, Sizing Up Human Intelligence 363

xviii

CONTENTS

Verbals 2O719. Infinitives 208

a. Form and functions of infinitives 209b. Infinitive as subject and subject complement 210c. Infinitive as object 211d. Infinitive after verb + noun phrase 212e. Infinitive to modify adjectives 213f. Infinitive to modifY nouns 211g. Infinitive to express purpose 215h. Special uses of the infinitive 216

SELECTED READING PASSAGESADLER, RosENFELDT and towNr, White Lies 365

2O . -ing Forms (Gerunds and Modifiers) 22Oa. The functions of' ' ing words 221b. -ing as subiect and subject complement (gerund in a noun phrase)

222c. -ing as object (gerund in a noun phrase) 223d. verbs followed by either -ing or infinit ive (/o + simple form) 224e. -ing after a preposition (gerund in a noun phrase) 226f. -ing after to as a preposition 226g. -ing as an adjective 228h. -ing in phrases substituting fbr clauses 229

SELECTED READING PASSAGESBAKER, The Surprise 342rHoMAS, Tau Ceti 355ADLER, RosllNr.ulD, and rowNn, The Eff'ects of'our Environment 351nox, The Doctors' I l i lemma 337

21 . Participle Forms (-edl-en Forms) 232a. The functions of participles 2ili lb. Participle and -ing forms 234c. Participle after get 236d. Used lo and get (or be) used to 237e. Participle as clause substitute 238

SELECTED READING PASSAGESsrEILA, wlllvls' and lnaxv, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept 367HAPGooD, The Soybean 339sALZMANT Cultural Exchanges 347

xlx

CONTENTS

Connecting Sentences 24222. Coordinating Conjunctions Z4g

a. Coordinating conjunctions connecting sentences 24Jb. Avoiding run-ons and the comma splice 245c. conjunctions connecting phrases and other paraller structures 246d. Nol only and nor 247e. Coordinate tags: so, too, either, and neither 249

SELECTED READING PASSAGESEpHRoN, Room with View-And No People JJ4sALzMAN, Cultural Exchanges 347eurNDLEN, Siblings 345srErr-A, wrLMS, and r,nArry, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept 36Z

23. Transitions 252a. Linking related sentences: the semicolon 2SSb. Transition words and expressions 2SSc. Problems with transitions: run-ons and the comma splice 256d,. In contrasl and on the contrary 2SZ

SELECTED READING PASSAGESHAPGooD, The Soybean 339cour,D, Sizing Up Human Intelligence S6Jxar-q The Culture of "Lead Time" 561srErr,A, wrLMS, and lnaty, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept J6TADLER, RoSENFDLD, and rowmn, White Lies J6SADLER' ROSENFELD, and rowNr, The Effects of our Environment 351

24 . Adjectival Clauses 261a. Adjectival clauses: form and function 262b. Relative pronoun as subject of clause 264c. Relative pronoun as object of clause 265d. Possessive relative pronoun 262e. Relative pronoun with preposition 262f. Idioms with where, when, what, and the way 268g. Punctuation: restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses 270h. Quantity words with relative pronouns 222i. Reduced adjectival clauses 273

SELECTED READING PASSAGESA-DLER' ROSENFELD, and rowrr, The Effects of our Environment 351

'LK

Combini

CONTENTS

25. Noun Clauses and Reported Speech 276

a. Form and function of noun clauses 277b. Noun clauses introduced by that 278c. Included questions 280d. Reported and direct speech 282e. The conventions of reporting: documentation 283f. Verb form in noun clauses after insist, suggest, etc. 283

SELECTED READING PASSAGESnar,u The Culture of "Lead Time" 361sALZMAN, Cultural Exchanges 347ADLERT RosENFELD, and rowrvr, The Effects of Our Environment 351

26 . Adverbial Clauses: Time, Place, Reason, Result, Purpose,Contrast 286a. Adverbial clauses: position and punctuation 287b. Clauses of time and place 288c. Clauses of reason 289d. Because and beceuse of 290e. Clauses ofresult and purpose 291f. Clauses of contrast 292g. Reduced adverbial clauses 293h. Problems with adverbial clauses: fragments 294

SELECTED READING PASSAGES

sALZMAN, Cultural Exchanges 347

27 . Adverbial Clauses: Conditions 298

a. Features of conditional sentences 299b. Real conditions of fact 299c. Real conditions of prediction 300d. Hypothetical conditions of speculation and the :use of were 301e. Hypothetical conditions of hindsight 304f. Wishes 305g. Summary of conditional adverbial clauses 305h. Other conjunctions 307i. Omitted l/ 308

SELECTED READING PASSAGESwELCH and wnr,cu, Economics and Scarcity 369nen. The Culture of "Lead Time" 361

>(Kl

CONTENTS

Princi les of Written Discourse 31028. Style 311

a. Clarity and directness 311b. Wordiness 313c. Repetition 313d. Old information before new 314e. Sentence variety 315f. Cohesion 315

SELECTED READING PASSAGESEpHRoN, Room with View-And No People 334wELCH and wnlcu, Economics and Scarcity 369

29. Punctuation 318a. End-of-sentencepunctuation 318b. Semicolon 321c. Comma 321d. Colon 325e. Dashes and parentheses 326f. Apostrophe 326g. Quotation marks 328

SELECTED READING PASSAGESTAFFEL, Portable Computers 357sALZMAN, Cultural Exchanges 347srEILA, wrLMS, and lnanry, The Basic-Nonbasic Concept 362wELCH and wnlcu, Economics and Scarcity 369coMBRrcH, Vincent van Gogh 343HILrs, Artificial Intelligence 359ADLER, RosENFELD, and rowwn, White Lies 365

PART II READINGS

I . Nora Ephron, Room with View-And No People gg42 . Sissela Bok. The Doctors'Dilemma 3373. Fred Hapgood, The Soybean 3394 . Russell Baker, The Surprise 3425. E. H. Gombrich, Vincent van Gogh 3436. Anna Quindlen, Siblings 3457 . Mark Salzman, Cultural Exchanges 347

xxii

CONTENTS

8. Ronald B. Adler, Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, andNeil Towne, The Effects of Our Environment 351

9. Lewis Thomas, Tau Ceti 35510 . Alexander Taffel, Portable Computers 35711 . Philip J. Hilts, Artificial Intelligence 35912 . Edward T. Hall, The Culture of "Lead Time" 361l3 . Stephen Jay Gould, Sizing Up Human Intelligence 36314 . Ronald B. Adler, Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and

Neil Towne. White Lies 36515. Donald Steila, Douglas Wilms, and Edward P. Leahy,

The Basic-Nonbasic ConcePt 36716 . Patrick J. Welch and Gerry F. Welch, Economics and

Scarcity 369

Appendix A: Irregular Verbs 371Appendix B: Spelling 374Index 381

xxllr

PA T

Basic Sentence Structurer. SUBJECT AND PRTDICATE

a. The independent clause: subject * verbb. The verb phrasec. The position of the subjectd. What not to do with the subiect ofthe

sentencee. Filler subjects it and, theref. The six basic requirements of a written

sentence

2. PHRASIES AND CI.AUSESa. Packing a sentence with informationb. Adding inforrnation at the beginningc. Including information to modify and

identify the subjectd. Inserting additional information after

the subjecte. Adding a verbf. Expanding the object: direct and

indirect objectg. Adding information about the sentence

at the end

3. QTIESTIONS AND NEGATIVESa. The form of questionsb. Why? and. What for?c. Negativesd. Alternative forrns of negatione. Tag questionsf. Tag questions: summary

Subject and PredicateREAI)

Read the following excerpt from "Room with View-and No People'" Thecomplete selection, with vocabulary glosses, appears on p. 334

We talk a lot about the fact that no one ever sits in the living room'It makes us all sad. The living room is the prettiest room in theapartment. It has a fireplace and moldings. It has a slice ofa view of theriver. It is a cheerful room furnished in light colors. The couches in it were

s recently cleaned by men with small machines. It always looks neat andtidy.

ANALYZEL Underline the w ords talk and sits (the verbs) in the first sentence. Now

follow this lead, and continue underlining all the verbs throughout thepassage. (One of them consists of more than one word.)

2. Now circle we and no one in the first sentence. These are the subjectsof the verbs. They tell us who or what is talking and- sitting. Again, follow thislead and continue circling all the subjects throughout the rest ofthe passage'(Some of the subjects consist of more than one word.)

3. In each sentence, use a slash to separate the subject you have circledfrom the rest of the sentence, like this:

(We)/ talk a lot. . .\--l -

What you are doing here is separating the subject fr-om the predicate Thepredicate in a simple sentence consists of the verb and what comes after it'

4. The reading passage at the beginning of this chapter consists of eightsentences. Look at them ciosely and, with other students, make a list of thefeatures that are common to all these sentences and also to all sentences ingeneral (for example, one feature is that each sentence begins with a capitalletter).

3

SIJBJECT AND PREDICAIE

STT]DYla. The independent clause: subject + verb

A complete sentence in standard written English must have its ownsubject and verb. That is enough to make a sentence. The box shows that a verbis a necessary part of the predicate.

Subject Pred.icate

BabiesChildrenThe children in the park

Vorscry.likeare eating

Rnsr or Prporcarr

lce cream.some delicious ice crearn.

This basic unit of meaning-the subject and the predicate-along with itsattachments, is called an ind,epend,ent clsuse. So every sentence you writemust have at least one independent clause with a subject and a verb. It canhave more than one independent clause, provided that the clauses areconnected with words llke and or but (see Chapter 22). Onlv commandsregularly omit the subject:

Go away![You] go away.

Yru can always check that you have written complete sentences by identifyingthe independent clause and then underlining the verb and circling the subject.Remember that the core of any sentence is this structure:

EXERCISE 1In the following passages from students' descriptions of a room,

indicate which passages contain well-constructed, correctly punctuateilsentences (OK) and which ones have problems (X).

1. There were not too many things in the room. Everything niceand clean.

- 2. The person who lives in the apartment needed something fromhis drawer, and I have never seen such an organized drawer inmy life. He had made small wooden boxes for- everything.

3. From the first look, I realized that the person who lived therewas very neat and clean and also interested in art and antiques.The colorful furniture, the marble table with antioue look.

F--;--.1subject + verb

4

TIIE I'ERB PHRASE

In the living room, there are portraits hanging everywhere. Atea set with lion decoration that looks so gorgeous.Although the walls and the ceiling are plain white and thefumiture is white too and very simple, the floor is covered witha rug, which has an exotic blue and red pattem on it.The table is covered with books and papers. A big desk in frontof the window.The main thing about the room is that it has a lot ofchairs. Verybie and comfortable chairs.

8. She wanted only bright colors. To make her room a moreexciting place to be.

EXEBCISE 2Look at the painter van Gogh's painting of his own room in Arles,

France, on p. 6. Write a description ofit. Imagine that someone will haveto draw the room according to your description, so make your descriptionas full and accurate as you can. When you have done that, exchangepapers with another student; tell each other about any details you haveleft out. On your partner's paper, draw a slash to separate the subjectfrom the nredicate in each indenendent clause.

lb. The verb phraseAn independent clause in standard written English needs a verb or, more

accurately (silce verbs can consist of more than one word), a complete verbphrase.

o .

_6 .

7.

VERB PHRA,SES IN INDEPENDENT CI,AUSESSubject Verb Phrase

ItWe

ItWe

The couchesThe couches

Verb in present (one word)makestalk

Verb in past (ore word)madetalked

auxiliaries bne or mord + main uerb

were cleanedmight have been cleaned

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

ttIi;:

s

F

THE \'ERB PHRASE

A complete verb phrase can be a one-word phrase, with the main verbindicating past or present time:

S}i'e waited for an hour.He works for a big company.

The verbs here are wait and work. The form of the verb shows past tense (-ed)and present tense (-s), respectively.

A complete verb phrase can also be composed of one or more auxiliaryverbs + the corresponding form of the main verb following them (see Chapter13 for a summary of verb-forms). In the following examples, the main verbsused are waiting, worked, and,decoreted,but note that they are accompaniedby auxiliaries to add more-and necessary-information:

She pos waiting for two hours.He has worked for that company for two years'They should haue decorated their living room'

In some languages, it is possible to mention a topic and then to make acomment about it without using a verb phrase. A speaker of Mandarin, forexample, could write

, f& e&which translates literally as *"He very tall."t In English, such topic-commentconstructions are not acceptable in expository writing. When you read, though,you might sometimes find such structures used consciously by the writer as astylistic device:

My sister became a doctor. My brother, a lawyer'

Some more examples of topic-comment structures used in specific circum-stances occur in Exercise 3.

*EXERCISE S+The artist Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo, to explain

his intentions in the painting of his room. Read what he wrote.

I had a new idea in my head and here is the sketch to it'This time it's just simply my bedroom, only here color must doeverything, and, as it giv-eJ a grander style to things when it is simple,it will be"iuggestive here of rest or of sleep in general. In a word, tolook at the picture ought to rest the brain or rather the imagination.

The wills ur" pul" violet. The ground is of red tiles. The wood ofthe bed and chairs ii the yellow of fresh butter, the sheets and pillows

tAn asterisk (*) indicates incorrect usage.tA star (*) indicates a linguistically challenging exerclse'

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

very light greenish lemon. The coverlet scarlet. The window green. Thetoilet-table orange, the basin blue. The doors lilac.

And that is all-there is nothing in this room with closedshutters. The broad lines of the furniture, again, must express absoluterest.

Adapted rrom a translation Quoted inrE.1f,:f"Tl; #rrfi;i;!#

Because vincent van Gogh was writing to his brother, he could write inhis own personal and stylized way. He did not keep on repeating a form of theverb be, but he left out the verb phrase in some ofthe basic sentence structures.where did he do that? How would those structures be written in an academicdescription of the painting?

EXERCISE 4For Exercise 2, you wrote a description of van Gogh's room and a

partner indicated the division between the subject and predicate in eachsentence. underline the verb phrase you used in each independentclause, and then underline the main verb (not the auxiliaries) twice.Note that a form of be, do, or haue can serve as either a main verb or an

auxiliary.

lc. The position of the subjectThe subject of a sentence is frequently a noun phrase; either a noun +

determiners (words like o, an, the, this, etc.) or a pronoun (he, they, etc.). Theusual and common sentence order in English is this:

S-V-O: subject-verb-object ("The boy ate the cake.")OrS-V-C: subject-linking verb-complement ("The boy was hungxy.")

Linking verbs are verbs like be, seem, qppear, look, andfeel.A speaker of English tends to watch out for the subject when reading in

order to determine what the sentence will be about. Very often, the subjectappears in first position in the sentence. But when a phrase or clause precedesthe subject, a comma is usually-though not always-used to signal this (asin this very sentence!) and to prepare the reader for the appearance of thesubject:

8

WHAT NOT TO DO WITH THE SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE

EXERCISE 5In the following sentences from the passage by Nora Ephron, the

author includes information in the sentence before the subiect. Underlinethe part of the sentence that precedes the subject.

1. Last year, I came to believe that the main reason was the lamps.2. Also, they make the room much brighter.3. Years ago, when I lived in a two-room apartment, I never used the

living room either.4. Sometimes I think about moving the bed into the living room.5. Every time I walk from the bedroom or the study to the kitchen I pass

the living room and take a long, fond look at it.6. When I was growing up, I had a friend named Lillian.

ld. What not to do with the subject of the sentenceThere are three important things to remember about the subject.

The subject should not be omitted. ("My town is pretty; *is big, too.")The subject should not be repeated. (*"My town Kafarselwan it ismarvelous and exciting.")The subject should not be buried inside a prepositional phrase. (*"In mytown Kafarselwan is marvelous and exciting." What is the subject of is?The student can rewrite this as "My town Kafarselwan is marvelousand exciting" or "In my town Kafarselwan, everything is marvelous andexciting.")

In some languages-Spanish or Japanese, for example-the subject ofthe sentence does not have to be stated when it is a pronoun like I, we, he, orthey:

SPANISHTengo muchos libros. (I have a lot of books.)tengo : I have

JAPANDSEHon wo kaimashita. (X bought a book-the pronoun is inferred from the

context.)kaimashita : I bought, you bought, he/she bought, etc.

In English, however, both in speech and writing, a pronoun subject may neverbe omitted.

a

a

I

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

EXERCISE 6 (oral)The following students' sentences contain errors. Can you identify

the errors and fix them?

1. The big chair it is very comfortable.2. The bedroom is extremely pretty; has a lot of antique furniture.3. The pictures that are on the walls around the room, they are mostly

landscapes.4. By buying expensive furniture has made the room look like a museum.5. My mother wanted a new carpet. Then wanted a new table, too.6. The lamp on the table next to the window it belonged to my grand-

mother.

le. Filler subjects it and. thereBoth it and there can be used to fill the subject position in an English

sentence. Some languages can omit the subject'. Since the subject is obligatoryin an English sentence, it and. there are often used to fill that position. Theyoccur in different contexts. however. and should not be confused:

. It is used with time, distance, weather, temperature, and theenvironment:

If is 8 o'clock.It's 2OO miles away.1/'s raining and soon if will be snowing.f/ was hot yesterday.It got too crowded at the party, so I left.

The filler subject l/ is always singular, followed by a third-personsingular verb form (see Chapter 17).

Note that the uses of if as a subject in the reading passageintroducing this chapter do not represent a filler subject. These usesare referential: each if refers to something previously mentioned inthe text.

There postpones the logical subject and indicates position orexistence:

There are 20 people in the room.There was once a school on that corner.There is a reason for my absence.There is a God.

10

THE SIX BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF A WRITAEN SENTENCE

The filler subject there merely postpones the logical subject, so thenoun phrase that follows the verb (the logical subject) determineswhether the verb form is singular or plural:

There is a reason.There are some reasons.

See also Chapter 17, "Subject-Verb Agreement."

EXERCISE 7Look at the picture of van

sentences of description as youGogh's room on p. 00. Produce as manycan that begin with the word there.

EXAMPLE

There are some pictures on the walls.

EXERCISE I (oral)In pairs, produce questions and answers about your present

environment (date, day, time, year, weather, temperature, distances inthe room and larger environment). Use it as a filler subject in theresponse.

EXAMPLES

What is the date today? It'sWhat time is it? It's . . .How far is it from here to . ? It's

lf. The six basic requirements of a written sentence

REQUIREMENTS OF A WRITTEN SENTENCE. A capital letter at the beginningr Punctuation at the end (a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point). A subject. A predicate containing a complete verb phrase' Standard word order (commonly subject-verb-object or complement)r An independent clause, that is, a core idea that can stand alone with its own

subject and verb

l1

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

EXERCISE g (oral)This is to be done with a partner. Follow the pattern and examples

below:

srtmnNT I"Tell me something about . ."

EXAMPLES

Tell me something about yoursister.Tell me something about yourroom.

srunnrgr 2Says a sentence in response. Thenadds another sentence.

My sister is 22 years old. She isin Bangkok now.My room is very dark. It has onlyone small window.

Listen carefully to each other to make sure that each sentence contains asubject and a complete verb phrase.

EXERCISE 10In each sentence, four words or phrases are underlined. One ofthem

should be corrected or rewritten. which one, and what is the correct form?

- 1. Big rooms with a lot of windows th"V 44p to make us feelcheerful.

- 2. Mr. Johnson. a friend of mine, he alwaysa b

.hqgqg! antiquefurniture.

d

- 3. Architects studying howa

what they need.d

different people live and work andb c

_ 4 . By fixing up the rooma

us more money than we couldcostb

afford.d

- 5. The pictures hanging on the wall near the window lbey weregiven to me as graduation gifts by my grandparentsl

D

12

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

EDITRead the following piece of student writing on the topic "My Ideal Room."

Underline the three places where there are problems with basic sentencestructure. Why do you think these problems occurred? What changes shouldthe student make to edit this passage?

Isn't it lovely to live in New York, where an inch of space costs a lotof money? I live in a studio apartment, and I dream of having an extraroom. This is the best subject I was ever asked to write about.

In terms of size this room should be at least as big as my actualstudio apartment. one big window would be enough, but I would want itto face south to get the afternoon sunlight as well as to watch my favoritetime of the day. The winter sunsets and the lights coming on in the city.The room should have high ceilings. The walls, painted in matte white,and a big, dark, polished wooden desk. A few shelves for books theyshould occupy one corner, and the rest ofthe space should be covered withpillows with red roses designed on a white background.

I don't like rooms to look cluttered. In addition, don't like them to bedark. so I would want one more thing in it that is necessary: a red andwhite rounded spanish marble lamp'

carlos Gomariz, Argentrna

WRITEWrite two paragraphs to describe a room that you think of as your ideal

room, one that you would like to spend time in. Make sure that your readerswill be able to understand what makes this room special for you. Describe theroom in detail in the first paragraph, so that readers will feel they are lookingat a photograph. In the second paragraph, tell your reader why you like thatkind of room so much. If you want to, add an introductory paragraph thatcaptures your readers'attention and introduces them to the idea of an idealroom. When you have written your description, examine the structure of eachsentence.

13

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

Go through your piece of writing and examine carefully all the groupsof words that end with a period (.) or a semicolon (;). Then identify allthe verbs that occur in the independent clauses of those sentences.Make sure they are complete verb phrases (an -ing form by itself withno auxiliary is not complete). Underline the verbs.Circle the subjects of those verbs.If you have difficulty finding an independent clause or identifying theverb or its subject, take that as a warning sign. There may besomething wrong with the structure of the sentence.Once you have checked that your sentences have all the six require-ments of a sentence, make sure that the end punctuation of each oneis clear and that the first letter of the first word is clearly written as acapital letter.

2.3.

4.

14

Phrases and Clauses

REAI)Read some of the simple sentences (subject

wrote about the picture.+ predicate) that students

Outside a Bistro in France, HnNntCanrron-BnrssoN (1968 - 1969 )

They are living in Paris.They are outside a bistro.They are kissing.He loves her.She loves him.There is a dog under the table.The dog is watching them.No people are watching.The man is smoking.

15

PHRASES AND CI,AUSES

Add some simple sentences of your own about the picture.Now read one ofthe longer, extended sentences that a group ofstudents

wrote.

Outside a bistro in Paris last spring, when there were no peoplewatching, a man who was smoking a cigarette tenderly and lovinglykissed the woman sitting opposite him, while his dog watchedapprovingly.

ANALYZE1. In the extended sentence just given, underline the verb of the

independent clause and circle its subject. Remember that an independentclause has a subject and a complete verb phrase, can stand alone grammati-cally, and is not introduced with subordinating conjunctionslike although, if,because, or when.

2. Identify the s + v of the independent clause. Then copy down in a listthe parts of the sentence that exist outside of the s + v (subject + verb), forexample, "outside a bistro," "who was smoking a cigarette."

3. Discuss with other students how you might name the sentence partsyou have listed in order to identify and classify them (according to theirposition in the sentence, according to the type of expression, according to thetype of first word, etc.).

STUDY2a. Packing a sentence with information

The subject-predicate structure is preserved even when the sentence ispacked with additional information. The S + V core remains and does notchange.

Look again at the picture by Henri Cartier-Bresson. A basic subject +predicate sentence (S + V + C/O) about this picture could be

The man kissed the woman.or. indeed.

The woman kissed the man.or

They kissed each other.These are all independent clauses.

Let's look at the first one in detail. It has a verb phrase, h.issed, a subject,The man, and an object, the woman. We can add a lot more information to thisbasic sentence, yet the sentence may still have only one independent clause.The information can take the form of many different grammatical structures.16

ADDING INFORMATION AT THE BEGINNING

EXERCISE 1Freewrite (write as much as you can and as quickly as you can) for

five minutes to tell a reader about your own reactions to the photographat the beginning of this chapter. For example, would such a scene bepossible in your country? Do you think people should kiss in public? Howdo you feel when you see incidents like this?

Exchange papers with another student and discuss the ideas youexpressed. Read each other's freewriting carefully, and underline allverbs that occur as the complete verb of a S * V structure in anindependent clause. Note where you have packed in more information.

2b. Adding information at the beginningWe can add information at the beginning of the sentence that will tell us

more about the sentence as a whole or simply about the subject of the sentence.Usually, when this information is longer than one word, it will be separatedfrom the subject with a comma. That comma is a signal to the reader that theintroductory material has ended. The reader expects the subject to come next.The accompanying box gives some examples of structures that can introduce asentence. Read them aloud; both reader and listener will wait for the subjectofthe sentence to appear.

FRONT STRUCTURESFront Structure Example Independ.ent Clause

Time phrase

Place phrase

Descriptive phrase

Adverb(See also Chapter 15.)

Prepositional phrase

-ing phrase(See also Chapter 20.)

Participle phrase(See also Chapter 21.)

Infinitive phrase(See also Chapter 19.)

Dependent clause (adverbial)(See also Chapter 26.)

Yesterday

On a busy street,

Happy to be on vacation,

Enthusiastically,

With only the dog watching,

Sitting outside a restaurant,

Watched only by the dog,

To show his love,

Because he felt romantic,

the man kissed the woman.

A phrase does not contain a subject t uerb structure; a clause does'L7

PHRASES AND CI"AUSES

EXERCISE 2Choose a photograph that you own, or choose one from a magazine.

Write a simple sentence that expresses the idea of the picture. Then writesentences about the picture, adding phrases or clauses before the subjectof the simple sentence you chose.

2c. Including information to modifu and identify the subjectHere are some examples of the types of informational structures you can

use to modify or identify a noun phrase (a noun with its modifiers: the tall man,one lonely man, her former husband, etc.). In the examples, the noun phrasethat is modified or identified is The man, t}'e subject of the sentence The mankissed the woman.

EXERCISE 3 (oral)Complete the following sentences, using hissed the woman as the

predicate.

EXAMPLE

man [what did he have with him?]man with a dog at his feet kissed the woman.

TheThe

STRUCTT]RES TO MODIF'T THE SUBJECTMod.ifuing Structure ExampleAdjective(s)Noun as adjectivePrepositional phrase

-ing phrase(See also Chapter 20.)

Participle phrase(See also Chapter 21.)

Dependent clause (adjectival)(See also Chapter 24.)

The happy, smiling man kissed the woman.

The family man kissed the woman.

The man in the dark shirt kissed the woman.

The man sitting outside the restaurant kissed the woman.

The man selected as the best chef of the year kissed the woman.

The man who brought the brown-and-white dog with him kissedthe woman.

The man [whom/thatl you saw in the restaurant kissed thewoman.

r8

INSERTING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

man [what was he wearing?]man [where had you seen him previously?]man lwere the police looking for him?]man [what did he do?]man [what was he eating?lman [where was he?]

AT"TER THE SUBJECT

1. The2. The3. The4. The5. The6. The

2d. Inserting additional information after the subjectWe can use certain structures to insert additional information after the

subject of a sentence.

Note that inserted information is not necessary to identify the subject. Itserves only to give the reader more information about the subject. Therefore,it is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. The commas seem tosay, "By the way, ."-you are giving information that the reader does notreally need to understand the subject of your sentence but might like to know.(see also chapter 24, "Adjectival clauses.") Appositive noun phrases, wordsthat further define a prior noun phrase, are enclosed by commas. (See alsoChapter 29, "Punctuation.") Sometimes dashes are used to make it evenclearer that the information is additional:

My teachers-all of whom struck terror into my heart-live in mymemory.

EXERCISE 4Insert information after the subject of each sentence

1. Students have a hard life.2. Professors don't like to give grades.

STRUCTURES INSERTED AFTER THE SUBJECTInserted Structure Erannple

Noun phrase (appositive)-lng phrase

(See also Chapter 20.)Participle phrase

(See also Chapter 21.,Dependent clause (adjectival)

(See also Chapter 24.)

The man, a young movie star, kissed the woman.

The man, feeling in a romantic mood, kissed the woman.

The man, inspired by the beautiful springwoman.

Pierre Chantal, who is a famous desigrrer,

weather, kissed the

kissed the woman.

19

PHRASES AND CI,AUSES

My favorite professor teaches .Professor Goldman teaches history.My friend decided to drop his course.The course isn't a very popular one.

3.4.5 .6.

2e. Adding a verbWe can expand the predicate by adding another verb.The man kissed and hugged the woman.The man kissed the woman and whispered something to her.The man kissed the woman and then patted the dog.

2f. Expanding the object: direct and indirect object_

we can expand a noun phrase, specifically here the object, by addingadjectives, appositives, descriptive phrases {with -;ng or a'participle), o.-radjective clauses. with certain verbs (giue, send, lend,lell, poy, hond, tuach,buy, make, etc.), we can add indirect objects, too, before the iirect ob;ect o,after it (with /o or for).

Note that in the last two examples, the direct object of the verb gaue is a big&iss. We can thus express the indirect object in two ways:

20

STRUCTURES TO EXPAND THE OBJECTStructure ExampleAdjective(s)

(See also Chapter 14.)Appositive noun phrase

-ing phrase(See also Chapter 20.)

Participle phrase(See also Chapter 21.)

Dependent clause (adjectival)(See also Chapter 24.)

lndirect object

The man kissed the shv woman.

The man kissed the woman, a well-known model.

The man kissed the woman sitting opposite him.

The man kissed the woman dressed in a striped shirt.

The man kissed the woman who had just sat down opposite him.

The man gave the woman opposite him a big kiss.The man gave a big kiss to the woman opposite him.

sShe

V

gave

IO (indirect object)her friend

DO (direct object)a present.

EXPANDING THE OBJECT: DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECT

lfthe indirect object is a pronoun, the usual form is

Some verbs that are followed by an indirect object use the preposition /owhen the indirect object follows the direct object; others use for. The mostcommon ones are listed here.

Or

FOLLOWED BY 'Ogrvesendlendtellpayhandteach

FOLLOWED BY forbuymakebakecook

EXERCISE 5 (oral)Assemble sentences from the following parts. Try out alternative

positions for the indirect object. Use the past tense.

SUBJECT1. The woman2. Her sister3. Pierre4. Marie5. He6. She

DIRXCT O&IECTa smilea sweatera ringa lieeverything he knowsa cake

INDIRSCT O&IECTthe manherhis girlfriendher boyfriendhis studentsher sister

VERBglvelendbnytellteachmake

S

She

v

gave

DO

a present

tolfor lO

to her friend.

S

She

v

gave

IOme

DOa present.

2l

PHRASES AND CI,AUSES

29. Adding information about the sentence at the endWe can add structures at the end of the sentence. These structures may

give information about the whole sentence, similar to those that are used at thebeginning of the sentence, or they may, after a comma, add information aboutthe subject.

END STRUCTURESStructure Example

Time phrase

Place phrase

Adverb(See also Chapter 15.)

Prepositional phrase

-ing phrase(See also Chapter 20.)

Descriptive phrase

Infinitive phrase(See also Chapter 19.)

Dependent clause (adverbial)(See also Chapter 26.)

The man kissed the woman yesterday.

The man kissed the woman in front of the restaurant.

The man kissed the woman enthusiasticallv.

The

The

kissed

kissed

man

man

the

the

the

the

woman at her instigation.

woman, hoping she would respond.

woman, enthusiastic about her beauty

woman to show that he loved her.

woman because he felt romantic.

The man kissed

The man kissed

The man kissed the

*EXERCISE 6We can add information in many of the available spaces in a

sentence:

On a busy street in Paris, the man, inspired by the beautiful springweather, kissed the woman who had just sat down opposite him, eventhough he was worried about her reaction.

Write three different sentences of your own in which you pack in asmuch information as you can about what you perceive in the sceneportrayed by Cartier-Bresson.

*EXERCISE 7Using details from the article by Nora Ephron, "Room with

View-and No People," write three sentences, each using as theindependent clause the following simple sentence:

22

ADDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE SENTENCE AT THE END

The writer didn't use the living room.Pack each sentence with as much information as you can. Try out

alternatives and take risks. See how long a sentence you can manage'

EXERCISE 8

a. Insultingb. Insultedc. An insultd. Felt insulted

2. The scientists accepted the prize gratefully.

a. the bestb. were the bestc. selected as the bestd. to select

he sounds more intelligent.

a. Because he can make better speeches than his opponentb. He can make better speeches than his opporentc. His speeches are better than his opponent'sd. As better speeches than his opponent

The New Deal,today.

shows almost no signs of life

Choose the word or phrase that best completes each sentence.

, the crowd jeered at the politician.

3.

4.

a. a program begun by Franklin D. Rooseveltb. the program was begun by Franklin D. Rooseveltc. Franklin D. Roosevelt began this programd. which began by Franklin D. Roosevelt

5. He gave

a. to his advisersb. trusting his advisersc. he trusted his advisersd. his advisers

a lot of power.

23

PHRASES AND CI,AUSES

EDITThe following piece was written by a student after he interviewed the

author of this book. In places, he writes a series of short, simple sentences.some of these could be combined into longer sentences by packing theinformation around an independent clause. Play around with this paragraph,and see how many different ways you can rewrite it. Make sure that youinclude all the ideas that appear in the original piece.

Ann Raimes has to teach a class at 8 e.u. She wakes up at b:bOA.M. every school day during the semester. she then has breakfast. Forbreakfast she has a cup of tea, toast, or cereal. She is from England.That is why she always has tea. However, she has been living in theU.S.A. about 25 years. After breakfast, she walks ten or twelve blocksto the number 4 or 5 train. she goes to 42nd street. Then she changesto the number 6 train. she gets out of the train at Hunter college at68th street. she buys a cup a coffee. she takes it with her to her ffice.There she picks up her papers and books. She goes to her first class at8 a.n. After that, she has another class at g:40 a.r'r. This ends at 11:80.Then she has office hours from 11:30 to 12:30. She has lunch at L2:J0-usually she orders a sandwich for her lunch. sometimes she treatsherself and goes to a Japanese restaurant. Later in the afternoon, shegoes home. On the way, she buys meat and vegetables for dinner. Athome, she marks students' papers and writes comments on them. Ifshe has time, she works on the textbook she is writing. She and herfamily eat dinner at about 8 p.u. They sit and talk over dinner formore than an hour. After dinner, she either reads or watches TV. Shegoes to bed around 11:30. This is her routine on weekdays. Onweekends she sleeps late, goes out, and enjoys herself.

Chih Wong, China

WRITEUse a photograph of your own choice, either a family photograph or a

photograph from a magazine. You can use the same one that you used forExercise 2. Write a description of the photograph, using as many of thesentence-packing techniques as you can. End by telling your reader why youchose this particular picture to describe. Exchange photographs and composi-tions with another student; read each other's compositions, and identify theindependent clause or clauses of each sentence. Tell your partner if anysentences aren't clear to you. Then revise your own composition, concentratingon improving the sentence variety and structure.

24

PHRASES AND CLAUSES

1. use a colored pencil to draw a line between the end of one sentence and- th" U"gi""i"d of the next. That should give you a clear picture ofwftetfte"r yor, f,"rr" used all short sentences or all long sentences. Try tovary your sentence length.

2. Check your sentence structure: look for the S + V structure!underline the complete verb phrase of the independent clause, andcircle its subject. what other pht.te. or clauses have you attached toeach independent clause? Tiy to identify them according to the

""i"giu" "sed in this chapter. H..r"

-yo., used a lot of the same type?If so] aim for more variety. If you find any structures that don't seemto fit, revise the sentence.

3. If you have written a lot of short, basic sentences, see if you can- .o-birr" some by using phrase and clause types illustrated in thischapter.

4. Take a few risks! Try using some structures that you haven't usedbefore. Then add u ttot" to your instructor asking if they work'

25

Questions and Negatives

REAI)Read the following paragraph from the article "The Doctors'Dilemma" by

Sissela Bok. The entire selection, with vocabulary glosses, appears on p. 337.

What should doctors say . . to a 46-year-old man coming in for aroutine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his familywho, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancerthat will cause him to die within six months? Is it best to tell him the

s truth? If he asks, should the doctors deny that he is ill, or minimize thegravity ofthe prognosis? Should they at least conceal the truth until afterthe family vacation?

ANALYZE1. Circle the subjects in the independent clauses of the sentences in the

selection.

2. Underline the complete verb phrase that goes with each subject.3. Normal order in statements in English is S-V-O/C (subject-verb-object

or complement). Write an explanation of what happens to normal S-V-O/Corder in a question. Compare your explanation with another student's.

STIJDY3a. The form of questions

In writing, we signal questions with a question mark at the end and withinverted word order, that is, with V-S word order. When the statement formoccurs with an auxiliary * main verb or with any form of the verb be, we movethe first auxiliary or the be form to a position in front of the subject:

They should tell the truth.Should they tell the truth?

He is lying./s he lying?

26

THE FORM OF QUESTIONS

When no auxiliary occurs in the statement, a form of do is used as the questionauxiliary, followed by the simple form of the main verb:

He feels in good health.Does he feel in good health?

The following table uses examples to summarize question word order.

However, note the order when the question word itself is the subject of thesentence:

The question words are who, whom, whose, tuhat, when, where, which, why,and, how.

EXERCISE 1For each of the following statements, form both a yes/no question

and a question with the given question word'

EXAMPLE

They worked late. (Why;Did they work late?Why did they work late?

1. He tells lies. (How often)2. She is telling the truth. (WhY)

QUESTIONwoRDORDER:wITtI__Q-Uf qST-I-oNWORDS- AND WrrH YES/NO QUESTIONS

Question WordFirst AuriliaryVerb N7) Subject

Other Auriliaries+ Main Verb

Rest ofPredicate

WhatWhenWhere

shoulddoare

IsShouldShould

doctorswe

youirthe doctorsthey

s a y . ?Ieave?going?

d e n y . . o r m i n i m i z e . ?

conceal . ?

b e s t t o . . ?

Question Word as Subiect Complete Verb Phrase Rest of Sentence

WhoWhat

should tellhappened

bhe patient?to him?

27

QUESTIONS AND NEGATI\'ES

Doctors should follow a code of ethics. (Which code)Dr. Jones has concealed the truth. (Who)Dr. Smith has concealed the truth, too. (Why)The doctors tried to be honest. (What)

EXERCISE 2 (oral)Imagine that you are a doctor. Prepare five questions that you would

ask to find out if a patient is leading a healthy life. vary the auxiliaryverbs you use. Then ask another student your questions.

EXAMPLES

Do you smoke?How many operations have you had?

EXERCISE 3 (oral)Make questions from the following statements, so that the words in

italics would be an appropriate answer to the question.

EXAMPLES

She went to the doctor's office.Where did she go?

She was worried about her weight.What was she worried about?

1. She went to see Dr. Parks.2. She went to the doctor because she had a uery bad cold.3. She made the appointment last week.4. He told her that she was working too hard.5. She reacted uery defensiuely.6. She told the doctor about her responsibilities.7. Her boss's plan was to increase productivity 50 percent.8. She was working twelue hours a day.

*EXERCISE 4The reading selection by Lewis Thomas on p. 355 discusses the

questions we might ask the inhabitants if we discovered life on anotherplanet. Two of the questions Thomas suggests are "Did you thinkyourselves unique?" and "Do you always tell the truth?" What additionalquestions do you think would be important and interesting questions toask? Write five questions.

28

3.4.5.6.

NEGATI\,'ES

3b. Why? and. what for?Note the alternative uses of why? and, what for? "What for?" is

usually used when the speaker or writer is puzzled; it expresses surprise andbewilderment.

WHY? AND WHAT FOR?Question Word. First Au.xiliary Subject Verb + Rest of Pred.icatewhvWhatwhvWhatwhvWhat

1S

I S

diddidwas

was

hehesheshesheshe

lyrng?lying for?say that?say that for?fired?fired for?

Note: "How come . ?" is ofben heard in conversation. Note the structure:

How come he's lying?How come she said that?

This usage is not appropriate for formal academic purposes.

EXERCISE 5 (oral)Give both a "Why?" and a "What . . for?" response to each of the

following statements.

EXAMPLE

He borrowed $100.Why did he borrow $100?What did he borrow $100 for?

1. The doctor told his patient a lie.2. The doctor ordered a set ofX-rays.3. The doctor tested her reflexes.4. The hospital employees are on strike.5. He refused to have an operation.6. The patients are being sent home.

3c. NegativesThe usual way to express negation is with not after the first auxiliary.

29

WORD ORDER WITH NOT

Subject First Auxiliary NotOtherAuriliaries * Main Verb Rest of Predicate

Sick peopleDying patientsThe doctor

docan-

should

not

not

not

wantmakehave lied.

to know the truth.decisions.

QUESTIONS AND NEGATT\,'ES

Note the form when neuer is used with a main verb with no auxiliaries (presentor past tense).

3d. Alternative forms of negationAlternatives to the use of not exist.

EXAMPLE

I don't have any spare time.I have no spare time.He doesn't say anything.He says nothing.

These are the alternative ways of expressing negation:

REGI.T'I-AR FOR]T'not anot anynot anynot anyonenot anybodynot any'thingnot anywherenot evernot either

ALTERNATIVE FOR]VInonononeno onenobodynothingnowhereneverneither

WORD ORDER WITH NEVER

Subject First Auxiliary NeverOther Auxiliqries +Main Verb Rest of Predicate

TheyHe should

never

never

telldeceive

the truth.the family.

30

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF NEGATION

Standard edited English uses only one negative in a clause:

Either The doctor has no Patients.Or The doctor doesn't have any patients.But not *The doctor doesn't have no patients.

you might hear this in conversation, but it is not considered a standard form.Aliernatives exist in word order, too. You can emphasize a negative

expression like neuer, not a, rarely, or seldom by putting it in first place in the-,"rrt"rr.u and then inverting the sentence order by putting the first auxiliary ofthe verb phrase before the subject:

He has never lied to a Patient.Never has he lied to a Patient.

For word order with nor introducing an independent clause, see Chapter 22'

EXERCISE 6The following sentences are based on the reading passage used in

chapter 1. Rewrite each sentence, using an alternative negative formfrom among those listed in section 3d.

1. I never used the living room.2. I had a friend named Lillian who had no living-room furniture.3. I clearly don't have a clue as to what that consists of.4. My living room has no clear function.5. There isn't anyone in the room.6. There is never any activity in the room.7. Not any of the explanations help.8. The room offers the family nothing.

EXERCISE 7The following sentences use emphatic word

emphatic by removing the negative particle fromany corresponding changes.

order. Make them lessfirst place and making

II{\MRTED ORDER FOR EMPIIASIS

NegatiueFirstAuxiliary Subject Best of Verb Rest of Pred.icate

NeverNot a word

havedid

we

she

toldutter.

a lie.

31

QUESTIONS AND NEGATWES

1. Never have they entertained in the living room!2. Seldom does she use the living room!3. Rarely do they sit and talk in that room!4. Never would I have expected such a disaster!5. Never could they have predicted that crisis!6. Not a moutMul would he eat for days on end!

3e. Tag questionsWe use tag questions in speech and in informal writing when we want to

confirm information that we think we have or when we want to expressopinions. Often we have a specific answer in mind, so we don't necessarilyexpect an answer to the question.

EXAMPLES

He's a doctor, isn't he? (We think he is.)Dr. Johnson doesn't operate, does he? (We think he doesn't.)Eight aspects of statements with tag questions are tricky.

FEATURES OF TAG QTIESTIONSFeature Example

2.

Positive statement, negative tagNegative statement, positive tag

Statement with auxiliary or beform, same form in tag

Statement with no auxiliary orbe form, form of doin tag

Noun phrase as subject,pronoun in tag

This, that, these, or thnseas subject, it ot theyin tag

There in subject position,there intag

Am as first or main verb instatement, aren't in tag

Will in statement,won't in tag

3.

4.

6.

o

8.

He's a doctor, isn't he?She isn't a doctor, is she?

He is a specialist, isn't he?He should tell the truth, shouldn't he?

He concealed the truth, didn't he?She wants to know the truth. doesn't she?

The doctor is experienced, isn't he?

This is a problem, isn't it?Those are forceps, aren't they?

There are moral issues here. aren't there?

I'm healthv. aren't I?

You'll help me, won't you?

32

TAG QTJESTIONS: SIIMMARY

Note that there is no one form for a tag question as there is in some languages,such as French, German, and Japanese. Instead, the tag changes according tothe auxiliary verb form and the subject that occur in the statement.

Note, too, how the abbreviated spoken form'd is handled in a questiontag:

They'd be annoyed, wouldn't they? ('d : would)He'd been there before, hadn't }ne? ('d: had)

EXERCISE I (oral)with another student, examine these two sentences, and discuss

why the tags use different auxiliaries.The doctor has a lot of patients, doesn't h.e?The doctor has had a lot of success' hasn't }l.e?

3f. Tag questions: summaryThe box summarizes the forms used in tag questions.

EWRCISE g (oral)The expected answer to the tag question "Doctors should tell the

truth, shouldn't they?" is 'Yes, they should." Give the expected answer toeach of the following questions.

TAG QUESTIONS: SUMMARYStatement Tsg

S + VPositiveNegativeAuxiliary or be formNo auxiliary: presentNo auxiliary: pastNoun phrasetherethis, thatthese, those

NegativePositiveRepeat first auxiliary or be formUse doesldoUse didPronounthereLT

they

33

QUESTIONS AND NEGATT!'ES

1. He'll try to understand, won't he?2. She's happy now, isn't she?3. She isn't sick anyrnore, is she?4. There are some problems, aren't there?5. Doctors follow a code of ethics, don't they?6. He wanted to be told the truth, didn't he?7. The doctor doesn't have much time, does he?8. They are allowed to see their X-rays, aren't they?

EXERCISE 70 (oral)Add tag questions to the following statements,

seeking confirmation of the statement.

EXAMPLE

She lives alone.She lives alone. doesn't she?

1. I have a nice living room.2. People never sit in the living room.3. The room always looks neat and tidy.4. It would not solve the problem.5. This would not solve the problem.6. Lillian had no living-room furniture.7. I am too old to have a bed in the living room.8. Her mother had chosen the pool.9. Lies do harm to those who tell them.

10. Doctors confront such choices often and urgently.11. There is a need to debate this issue.12. The seriously ill do not want to know the truth.

as if you were

EDITRead the following introductory paragraphs of two students' essays. Are

the questions used effectively? Are the questions and negatives formedaccurately? Edit any that are not.

1. You are going to die soon and your doctor doesn't tell you the truthbecause he thinks that you might be not able to handle it. What is yourreaction? Don't you get furious with the person who wants to decideyour life for you? Don't you get disgusted with his sympathy? Don't youthink that those who try to control your life by not telling you the truthare committing a crime? You'd be angry, aren't you?

Nasim Alikhani, Iran34

QUESTIONS AND NEGATT\tsS

2. The controversy about doctors telling the truth or not is complex. Inour society, some people believe that doctors should tell the truth topatients in any situation, but others don't. They think it is importantlo atts*er these questions: What kind of illness does the patient have?Is it curable or incurable? Is the patient married or single? How muchtime there is left? Who can look after the patient when there isn't nohope?

Kam-ta Yen. China

WRITEWrite a short letter to the editor of a newspaper about an issue that you

care about deeply. Make sure that you express your point ofview clearly andsupport it with examples to make the issue come alive for the readers. Whenyou hurr" written a draft, try out a new beginning using questions addressed tolhe readers, as Sissela Bok did. Try, also, to use one tag question at an informalpoint in your letter at which you seek the readers' confirmation of youritatement. Experiment with alternate forms of negation-take a risk and tryout something that you haven't used before!

1.

2.

3.

Look at your piece of writing. Make sure that every direct question hasa question mark after it.

check that you have used question word order (v-s) in a question,except when a question word forms the subject of the sentence ("Whois that?").with tag questions, check that you have used the correct verb form(use a fo-rm of do when no auxiliary is used in the statement). check,too, that you have reversed affirmative/negative order.

4. Make sure that you have not used double negatives (*"I don't havenothing").

35

Noun Phrases4. PROPER NOI.]NS

a. Categories ofproper nounsb. Article use with proper nouns:

summaryc. Articles with singular proper nounsd. Articles with plural proper nouns

5. COUI\ITABLE AND I.]NCOUNTABLENOI]NSa. Common nouns and their markersb. Countable nounsc. Plural forms of countable nounsd. Uncountable nounse. Quantity words with countable and

uncountable nounsf. Few and a fewg. Measure words

6. ARTICLESa. Determiners and articlesb. Specific reference: thec. Nonspecific reference and

generalizationsd. Articles with proper and common

nouns: summarye. Important points to rememberf. Idiomatic usage

Proper Nouns

REAI)Read the following excerpt from "The Soybean," which appears with

vocabulary glosses on p. 339.

In the last half of the first millennium a.D.' the Japanese upperclasses became slavish Sinophiles and imported many aspects of Chineseculture-writing characters, law codes, political institutions, and, per-haps most important, Buddhism. Doufu, called tofu in Japan-and now

s elsewhere-arrived as one of the things associated with the newreiigion.(By this time the soybean itself had been cultivated in Japan forseveral hundred years.)

Buddhist monks are strict vegetarians, and doufu had become animportant food in Chinese monasteries. For several centuries Buddhism

l0 was an upper-class religion in Japan; these social associations pushed thedevelopment of tofu and its associated soy foods in a different directionthan in China.

ANALYZE1. Other than the first words of sentences, which words in the reading

passage above begin with capital letters? Write them down.

2. Try to classify the words you have written down into types. Readquickly thiough Nora Ephron's "Room with View-and No People" on p. 334,uaa t[" capitalized words that appear there to your list, and see what newcategories you can form.

STIJDY4a. Categories ofProPer nouns

Proper nouns include the following types of nouns:

. Names of people: Lillian, Martin, Nora Ephron

37

PROPER NOT]NS

Names of places (countries, cities, oceans, rivers, lakes, mountains,parks, schools, buildings, stores, etc.): China, Beverly Hills, AtlanticOcean, Amazon River, Lake Michigan, Mount Fuji, Central Park, CoeCollege, Sears Tower, Bloomingdale's

. Names of religions: Buddhism, Buddhist; Hinduism, Hindu; Christian-ity, Christian

. Names of courses in school and college: Philosophy, History of Sciencer Historical periods and events: the Middle Ages, the Civil Waro Styles of art and architecture: Victorian, Gothic, Baroque, Expression-

ist, Cubisto Nationalities, languages, and associated words: Chinese, Japanese,

Sinophile, Anglophobeo Days, months, special holidays: Christmas, Passover, New Year's Day,

December, Tuesdayr Titles: Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.

EXERCISE 1Form two teams of students. Your instructor will read out six items

from the following list. Your task is to write sentences that give someinformation about as many of the six proper nouns as you can.

EXAMPLE

Mount Everest: Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

the Netherlandsthe Rocky MountainsLake TiticacaEgvptthe North Polethe PhilippinesSouth Vietnamthe Mediterraneanthe First World Warthe United NationsNew Year's Eve

President BushPrime Minister ThatcherCentral Parkthe Pacific OceanLake SuperiorTaiwanthe People's Republic of ChinaLeningradSeoulthe LouvreMount McKinley

4b. Article use with proper nouns: summaryArticle use with proper nouns has few rules and many exceptions. Each

time you come across a name, remember to learn whether it is used withthe ornot. For a very general rule of thumb (though it has a lot of exceptions), use thefollowing guide:

38

ARTICLES WITH SINGUI,AR PROPER NOTINS

ARTICLES WITH PROPER NOIINSr Singular: A (zero article) Lake Superioro Plural: the the Great Lahes

4c. Articles with singular proper nounsA general guideline for the use of singular proper nouns is to use no

article (0, the zero article form). However, you will see from the examples inthe box titled "Articles with Singular Proper Nouns" (pp. 40-41) that there area lot of exceptions. Learn all the exceptions as you come across them.Whenever you read or listen to English and find an exception, write it downand learn it.

*EXERCISE 2Write a paragraph about your country in which you explain the

relationship between certain foods and religious customs and festivals.Pay attention to the use of the with proper nouns.

4d. Articles with plural proper nounsUsually /lze is used with plural proper nouns:

COTJNTRIESthe United Statesthe Netherlands

GROUPS OF I-AXESthe Finger Lakesthe Great Lakes

MOI,]NTAIN RANGESthe Alpsthe Andesthe Rockies

GROI.JPS OF ISI-ANDSthe Bahamasthe Falklandsthe Philippinesthe West Indies

NATIONALITIESthe French (people)the Chinese (people)the Americans

EXERCISE 3In the following sentences about soybean production, insert the

given noun phrases. Capitalize and add the where necessary. First youwill have to decide whether the noun is a proper noun or not.

1. Tofu is produced in

39

ARTICLES WITH SINGUI,AR PROPER NOI.]NS0 Qero article: no article) the

Names of People Nora EphronFred Hapgood

Titles of People General EisenhowerPresident Harry TrumanLord Nelson

the presidentthe prime ministerthe duke ofYorkthe emperor Napoleon

Continents. Partsof the Globe

AsiaCentral America

the South Polethe Equatorthe East, the West

Countriesi FranceCanadaGreece

the United Kingdomthe Soviet Unionthe Dominican Republic

(The last word in each nameis a collective noun.)

States. Cities.Districts, Regions

MississippiTokyoHolll'wood

The Haguethe Bronxthe Ruhrthe Rivierathe South End

Buildings Westminster AbbeyRockefeller CenterNorth Station

the Chrysle