Basic Grammar Step by Step Second Edition

Mary W. Ng

Contents				i
List of Tables				ix
Introduction				xi
1	Nouns			1
	1.1	Common Nouns		1
	1.2	Proper Nouns		2
	1.3	Compound Nouns		3
	1.4	Collective Nouns		4
	1.5	Regular Plurals		4
	1.6	Irregular Plurals		5
		1.6.1	More Spelling Rules	6
	1.7	Possessive Case of Nouns		8
2	Determiners			10
	2.1	Definite and Indefinite Articles		10
		2.1.1	Articles before Countable Nouns	11
		2.1.2	Article before Uncountable Nouns	13
	2.2	Adjectives of Quantity		14
	2.3	Demonstrative Adjectives		15
	2.4	Interrogative Adjectives		16
3	Adjectives			18
	3.1	Adjectives of Quality		18
	3.2	Proper Adjectives		18
	3.3	Nouns as Adjectives		19
	3.4	Compound Adjectives		20
4	Verbs			22
	4.1	Action Verbs		22
	4.2	Linking Verbs		23
5	Sentences			24
6	Sentence Structure			26
	6.1	The Subject of a Sentence		26
	6.2	The Predicate of a Sentence		27
		6.2.1	Direct Object	28
		6.2.2	Subject Complement	29
		6.2.3	Object Complement	30
	6.3	Compound Subject		31
	6.4	Compound Predicate		32
7	More on Action Verbs			33
	7.1	Transitive Verbs		33
	7.2	Intransitive Verbs		34
8	Adverbs			35
	8.1	Interrogative Adverbs		37
	8.2	Adverbs of Manner		38
	8.3	Adverbs of Time		39
	8.4	Adverbs of Place		40
	8.5	Adverbs of Frequency		41
	8.6	Adverbs of Degree		42
9	Pronouns			44
	9.1	Personal Pronouns		44
		9.1.1	Choosing Personal Pronouns	46
	9.2	Possessive Pronouns		48
	9.3	Demonstrative Pronouns		49
	9.4	Interrogative Pronouns		50
	9.5	Reflexive Pronouns		51
	9.6	Emphatic Pronouns		52
	9.7	Indefinite Pronouns		53
10	Possessive Adjectives			55
11	Phrases			57
	11.1	Noun Phrases		57
	11.2	Adjective Phrases		58
	11.3	Adverb Phrases		59
	11.4	Turning Phrases into Sentences		60
12	Prepositions			62
	12.1	The Object of a Preposition		63
	12.2	Prepositions of Place: at, in, on		63
	12.3	Prepositions of Movement: into, onto, in, on		65
	12.4	Prepositions of Time: at, in, on		66
13	Prepositional Phrases			68
	13.1	Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives		68
	13.2	Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs		69
14	Direct and Indirect Objects			71
15	Conjunctions			73
	15.1	Coordinating Conjunctions		73
	15.2	Correlative Conjunctions		73
	15.3	Subordinating Conjunctions		74
16	Interjections			76
17	Comparison of Adjectives			77
	17.1	Some Rules for Forming the Comparative and Superlative of Adjectives		77
		17.1.1	More Rules for Forming the Comparative and Superlative of Adjectives	79
	17.2	Using the Positive, Comparative and Superlative of Adjectives		80
18	Comparison of Adverbs			82
	18.1	Some Rules for Forming the Comparative and Superlative of Adverbs		82
	18.2	Using the Positive, Comparative and Superlative of Adverbs		84
19	Double Comparatives			85
20	Principal Parts of a Verb			87
	20.1	The Base Form and the s Form		87
	20.2	The Present Participle or ing form		88
	20.3	The Past Form and the Past Participle of Regular Verbs		90
	20.4	The Past Form and the Past Participle of Irregular Verbs		93
21	Main Verbs and Auxiliary Verbs			99
22	The Present Simple Tense			100
	22.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		101
	22.2	Positive and Negative Questions		103
23	The Present Progressive Tense			105
	23.1	Contractions		106
	23.2	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		107
	23.3	Positive and Negative Questions		109
24	The Present Simple Tense or the Present Progressive Tense?			111
25	The Past Simple Tense			112
	25.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		113
	25.2	Positive and Negative Questions		114
26	The Past Progressive Tense			116
	26.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		118
	26.2	Positive and Negative Questions		119
27	The Past Simple Tense or the Past Progressive Tense?			121
28	The Present Perfect Tense			123
	28.1	The Present Perfect Tense with Time Expression		124
	28.2	Contractions		125
	28.3	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		126
	28.4	Positive and Negative Questions		127
29	The Past Simple Tense or the Present Perfect Tense?			129
30	The Present Perfect Progressive Tense			131
	30.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		133
	30.2	Positive and Negative Questions		134
31	The Present Perfect Tense or the Present Perfect Progressive Tense?			136
32	The Past Perfect Tense			138
	32.1	Contractions		139
	32.2	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		140
	32.3	Positive and Negative Questions		141
33	The Past Perfect Progressive Tense			143
	33.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		144
	33.2	Positive and Negative Questions		145
34	The Future Tense			147
	34.1	The Future Simple Tense		147
		34.1.1	Contractions	148
		34.1.2	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions	149
		34.1.3	Positive and Negative Questions	150
	34.2	The Future Tense Using be going to		151
	34.3	The Future Simple Tense or The Future Tense Using be going to?		152
	34.4	The Future Tense using the Present Simple Tense		153
	34.5	The Future Tense using the Present Progressive Tense		154
35	The Future Progressive Tense			155
	35.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		156
	35.2	Positive and Negative Questions		157
36	The Future Perfect Tense			159
	36.1	Negative Statements and Negative Contractions		160
	36.2	Positive and Negative Questions		161
37	be, have, do			163
	37.1	be as a Main Verb		163
		37.1.1	More on be as a Main Verb	165
	37.2	have as a Main Verb: Possession, Illnesses		167
	37.3	have as a Main Verb: Actions		169
	37.4	do as a Main Verb		171
		37.4.1	More on do as a Main Verb	172
38	Emphatic do			174
39	The Imperative			175
40	Subject and Verb Agreement			177
	40.1	Collective Nouns		178
	40.2	Compound Subjects, Correlative Conjunctions		179
	40.3	Indefinite Pronouns		181
	40.4	there plus be		182
41	Modal Auxiliary Verbs			184
	41.1	Negative Statements		185
	41.2	Negative Contractions		186
	41.3	can, could, be able to: Ability		187
	41.4	cannot, can’t, could not, couldn’t, be not able to: Inability		189
	41.5	can, could, may, be allowed to: Permission and Requests		191
	41.6	can, could: Suggestions and Offers		192
	41.7	shall: Suggestions, Offers and Advice		193
	41.8	must, have to: Necessity to do Something		194
	41.9	must not, mustn’t, don’t have to, don’t need to: Necessity not to do Something, No Necessity to do Something		195
	41.10	ought to, should: Obligation and Advice		196
	41.11	may, might, could: Possibility		197
	41.12	must, can’t: Deduction		198
	41.13	will, shall: Offers, Willingness, Promises		199
	41.14	would, would not: Past Habits, Past Refusals		200
	41.15	Will you, Would you, Would you like, Would you like to, I would like, I would like to: Requests, Offers and Invitations		201
	41.16	would rather, would rather not: Preference		202
42	Other Auxiliary Verbs			204
	42.1	had better, had better not: Strong Advice		204
	42.2	used to: Past Habits		205
	42.3	dare: Challenge		206
43	Direct and Reported Speech			208
	43.1	Reported Statements		210
	43.2	Modal Auxiliary Verbs, Other Auxiliary Verbs and Time Expressions in Reported Speech		212
	43.3	Reported Questions		214
	43.4	Reported Commands		216
44	More on Adverbs			218
	44.1	Adverbs of Frequency		218
	44.2	Adverbs of Degree		219
45	Question Tags			221
	45.1	More on Question Tags		222
46	Short Answers			224
	46.1	More on Short Answers		227
47	Additions to Statements			230
	47.1	Positive Additions to Statements		230
	47.2	Negative Additions to Negative Statements		232
48	Active and Passive Voice			234
	48.1	Verb Tenses in the Passive Voice		236
	48.2	Modal Auxiliary Verbs in the Passive Voice		239
49	The Infinitive			240
	49.1	The Infinitive with to		240
	49.2	The Infinitive without to		241
	49.3	Uses of the Infinitive		242
50	Infinitive Phrases			244
	50.1	Uses of the Infinitive Phrase		244
	50.2	Infinitive Phrases with Personal Pronoun it		246
51	dare as a Main Verb			247
52	More on Sentences			249
	52.1	Main and Dependent Clauses		249
	52.2	Compound Sentences		250
	52.3	Complex Sentences		251
53	Noun Clauses			253
	53.1	As the Subject of a Sentence		253
	53.2	As the Direct Object		254
54	Relative Pronouns			255
	54.1	Subjective Case		255
	54.2	Objective Case		256
	54.3	Possessive Case		257
55	Adjective Clauses			259
	55.1	Defining and Non-defining Adjective Clauses		259
	55.2	Adjective Clauses with Relative Pronouns who, whom, which, that, whose		260
	55.3	Adjective Clauses with Relative Adverbs why, when, where		261
	55.4	Adjective Clauses with Prepositions and Relative Pronouns whom, which		263
56	Adverb Clauses			264
	56.1	Adverb Clauses of Manner		264
	56.2	Adverb Clauses of Time		265
	56.3	Adverb Clauses of Place		266
	56.4	Adverb Clauses of Reason		267
	56.5	Adverb Clauses of Condition		268
	56.6	Adverb Clauses of Concession		269
	56.7	Adverb Clauses of Purpose		270
57	Gerunds and Gerund Phrases			271
	57.1	Gerunds		271
	57.2	Gerund Phrases		272
58	Present Participles and Present Participial Phrases			274
	58.1	Present Participles as Adjectives		274
	58.2	Present Participial Phrases as Adjectives		275
59	Past Participles and Past Participial Phrases			277
	59.1	Past Participles as Adjectives		277
	59.2	Past Participial Phrases as Adjectives		278
60	Dangling Modifiers			280
61	Appositives			282
62	Conditional Sentences			283
	62.1	Type 1 Conditional Sentences		283
	62.2	Type 2 Conditional Sentences		284
	62.3	Type 3 Conditional Sentences		285
63	Sentence Structure Review			286
64	Sentence Patterns			289
	64.1	Sentence Pattern 1		289
	64.2	Sentence Pattern 2		290
	64.3	Sentence Pattern 3		291
	64.4	Sentence Pattern 4		292
	64.5	Sentence Pattern 5		293
65	Punctuation			295
	65.1	Apostrophe ’		295
	65.2	Colon :		295
	65.3	Comma ,		295
	65.4	Exclamation Mark !		297
	65.5	Hyphen -		297
	65.6	Period . (also known as Full Stop)		297
	65.7	Question Mark ?		298
	65.8	Quotation Marks “ ’’ or ‘ ’		298
	65.9	Semicolon ;		298
	65.10	Parentheses ( )		298
A	Summary of Tense Formation in the Active Voice			301
B	List of Common Contractions			307
Index				309

Basic Grammar Step by Step Second Edition

Contents