PARTS OF SPEECH AND BASIC GRAMMAR POINTERS
I.
THE NAME
NOUN
 name of a person, place, thing, or idea.
KINDS OF NOUNS
Proper Nouns
 Names a particular person, place or thing.
 Used when the speaker is talking about somebody,
something or someplace specific.
 First letter of a proper noun must be capitalized.
Common Nouns
 Does not denote anybody, anyplace or anything in a
particular.
 Refers to anyone belonging to a class of persons, place,
and things.
 First letter is not capitalized, except when the common noun
is found at the beginning of a sentence.
Proper Nouns
Common Nouns
Jungkook
Man
Busan
City
France
Country
Collective Nouns
 Refers to a collectivity or a group of persons, animals, or
things that are counted or deemed as one.
 Singular when we think of it as a group and plural when we
think of it as the individual acting within the whole (happens
sometimes, but not often)
Band
Committee
Family
Kind
Audience
Class
Flock
Staff
Crowd
Dozen
Jury
Team
Abstract Noun
 Denotes an intangible idea.
 Names a condition or a concept.
 Anything that names a quality is an abstract noun.
 Some abstract nouns may be formed by adding suffixes like
-ty, -ness, -hood,
-ship, -ment, -ion, -ure, and -ity.
Contentment
Friendship
Loyalty
Brotherhood
MODIFICATIONS OR QUALITIES OF NOUNS
Person. A noun may indicate the speaker, the one spoken to, or
the one spoken about. A noun may be in the first, second, or
third person.
When it denotes the speaker.
First Person
Ex. I, your friend, would like to help you.
When it denotes the one spoken to.
Second Person
Ex. Ladies, lend me your ears.
When it denotes the one spoken about.
Third Person
Ex. I admire that girl for her generosity.
Number. A noun maybe singular or plural.*
When it refers to only one person,
animal, thing, or place.
Singular
Ex. The child left her pet tied with a
ribbon to a tree in the park.
When it refers to more than one of them.
Plural
Ex. The boys fed the chickens corn from
the farm.
Gender. A noun may be masculine, feminine, and neuter.
Denotes the male sex.
Masculine
Ex. brother-in-law, father, bull
Feminine
Denotes the female sex.
Ex. sister-in-law, mother, cow
Denote objects that do not have sex.
Neuter
Ex. rice, bowl, table, book
Note: A noun that may be taken as masculine or feminine is
considered masculine.
Ex. relative, children
The gender of somebody or something may be indicated in
three ways:
1. Use a different word
M: father
F: mother
2. Use a different ending
M: host
F: hostess
3. Change part of the word M: Chairman
F: Chairwoman
Cases. A noun has a quality that denotes its relation to other
words in a sentence.
Three Types of Cases:
1. Nominative Case. A noun may be used differently in
different sentences.
Uses of nouns in the Nominative Case:
 Subject, when it is what is being talked about or when it
does the action in the sentence.
Ex: Your enthusiastic applause blew me over.
 Predicate Nominative or Subject Complement, when it is
used to say something about the subject.
Ex: My sister is God’s gift to our family.
 Address, when it is directly addressed (talked to) in the
sentence.
Ex. My dear countrymen, let us unite in love.
 Nominative in Apposition, when it denotes the same
person, place, or thing as the noun being explained.
An appositive follows a noun or a pronoun and explains its
meaning. It may be nonrestrictive or restrictive.
Nonrestrictive, if it is merely added information; that is, the
sentence would still be complete without the appositive. If this
is the case, the appositive is separated from the rest of the
sentence by commas.
Ex: Lorna, my sister, fetches me from school every day.
Restrictive, if it is necessary in order that we might know the
exact person being referred to. When the appositive is
restrictive, one must not separate it with commas from the
rest of the sentence.
Ex. That girl is my cousin Paula.
A nominative in apposition is in the same case as the noun
it explains.
 Nominative of Exclamation, when it is used independently
to express a strong emotion.
Ex: Love! Oh what a wonderful word love is.
2. Possessive Case. A noun may indicate ownership,
possession or connection to another word in the sentence.*
3. Objective Cases. A noun is the object case when it has the
following uses:
 Direct Object, when it is used as the receiver of the action
indicated by the verb.
Ex: Jungkook gave free meals.

Object of a Preposition, when it is what the preposition in
the sentence refers to. It usually follows the preposition.
Ex: Gina made tea in the kitchen.
 Objective in Apposition, when the noun is used as an
appositive of (explains or specifies) a noun that is in the
objective case, then that noun is in the objective case as
well, functioning as an objective in apposition.
Ex. The audience crowded around the singer Lea
Salonga.
 Indirect Object, when a noun refers to whom or for whom
an action is done. It receives whatever is named by the
direct object. It usually found between the verb and the
direct object.
Ex: Cindy brought her nephew a present.
Some verbs which may take both a direct and indirect object:
assign
get
pardon
send
bring
give
pay
show
buy
grant
promise
sing
deny
hand
read
teach
do
lend
refuse
tell
forbid
offer
remit
wish
forgive
owe
sell
write
 Adverbial Objective, when a noun is used as an
adverbthe part of speech that tells us when, where, why,
how much, how far and how long.
Ex: The rope stretched ten yards.
 Retained Object, when the verb changes from active to
passive but retains its direct object.
Active: The librarian lent the boy the books.
Passive: The boy was lent the books by the librarian.
 Objective Complement, when a noun is used to explain
the direct object and complete the meaning of the verb.
Ex: I choose the artist Rogel.
Some verbs that may take objective complements:
appoint
consider
choose
name
call
declare
make
elect
 Cognate Object, when a noun that repeats the meaning
implied by the verb is a direct object.
Ex: We ran an exhilarating run.
II.
THE SUB
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. Most
pronouns have an antecedent, or a noun that has already been
specified previously, though some have no antecedent (e.g.
everyone). These words take away the monotony of repeating
the nouns repeatedly.
KINDS OF PRONOUNS
Personal Pronouns are pronouns that replace persons or
things.
First Person
Case
Singular
Plural
Nominative
i
we
Possessive
my*, mine
our*
Objective
me
us
Second Person
Nominative
you
you
Possessive
your*
your*, yours
Objective
you
you
Third Person
Nominative
he, she, it
they
Possessive
his*, her*, hers, its their*, their
Objective
him, her, it
them
Compound Personal Pronouns are formed by adding the
suffixes -self or -selves to certain personal pronouns.
Forms of the Compound Personal Pronouns
Singular
Plural
First Person
myself
ourselves
Second Person
yourself
yourselves
Third Person
himself, herself,
themselves
itself
TYPES OF COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Intensive Pronoun. Used to give emphasis to the noun or
pronoun that it replaces or refers to.
Ex: She herself must put things to right.
The members themselves are to blame.
Reflexive Pronoun. Used to indicate that the subject of the
sentence also receives the action of the verb. That is, the
Subject is also the Object.
Ex: I bathed myself.
You must love yourself.
Note:
 When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take the
first person.
Ex: Greg, Rita and I gave ourselves a pat on the back.
 But when there is no first person, the reflexive will take the
second person.
Ex: You and Rose injured yourself.
 The indefinite pronoun one has its own reflexive form but
the other indefinite pronouns don’t.
Interrogative Pronouns: Introduce Questions. Used to ask
questions. There are three interrogative pronouns: who,
which, and what. They are used in Direct and Indirect
Questions.
Direct Questions
Indirect Questions
Who did this?
My friend asked who did this.
Which dress do you think? Beatrice asked which dress you
like.
What kind of work is that? The boss wondered what kind of
work that is.
Interrogative Pronouns also sometimes act as Determiners or
words which make a noun. If interrogative pronouns are used
this way, you’ll know that they will be followed by a noun. In this
sense, they act as like adjectives.
Ex: Which car did you want?
What mood is he in?
Relative Pronounswho, which, what, and thatrelate groups
of words to nouns or other pronouns. Function as conjunctions
by joining to its antecedent the subordinate clause of which it is
a part.
Ex: The student who studies hardest usually becomes
the best in his class.
Forms of the Who
Singular
Plural
Nominative
who
who
Possessive
whose
whose
Objective
whom
whom
Compound Relative Pronoun. Formed by adding the suffix ever or -soever to who, whom, which, and what.
Ex: Do whatever you have to do.
(Do the things which you have to do.)
Whatsoever wishes to continue must do so.
(The one who wishes to continue must do so.)
Adjective Pronouns are pronouns that may be used as
adjectives. They modify the noun that follows them.
Pronouns
Adjective Pronoun
These are cute.
These puppies are cute.
Many were angry.
Many people were angry.
Each may choose a gift.
Each child may choose a gift.
TYPES OF ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS
Demonstrative Pronouns. Pronoun that identify or point to a
definite person, place or thing. They are this, that, and those.
This is my pet dog.
Ex:
That is my boyfriend.
These are the eggs I bought.
Note: This and these are used for object near at hand. That and
those are used to point at objects far from the speaker.
Indefinite Pronouns. Pronouns that point out no particular
person, place or thing. That is, they do not act as substitutes to
specific nouns but stand as nouns themselves.
Commonly Used Indefinite Pronouns
all
everyone
one
another
everything
same
any
few
several
anybody
many
some
anyone
much
somebody
anything
no one
someone
both
nobody
something
everybody
none
such
Distributive Pronouns. Pronouns that refer to each person,
place or thing separately. They are each, either, and neither.
Each has made his choice.
Ex:
Either will do.
Neither is satisfactory.
Possessive Pronouns. Pronouns used to denote possession
or ownership by the speaker, the person spoken to, or the
person or thing spoken about.
Note: Independent Possessive are possessive pronouns that
may be used alone to take the place of nouns. They are mine,
ours, yours, hers, its, and theirs.
CASE OF PRONOUNS
Nominative Case. Pronouns used in the following ways are in
the nominative case.
1. Subject of a Verb
She and I arrived safely.
Note: Do not use me which is in the objective case since
the pronoun is the subject.
2. Predicate Nominative/Subjective Complement
It was he.
Note: Do not use him which is in the objective case since
the pronoun is used as a predicate nominative.
Objective Case. Pronouns used in the following ways are in the
objective case:
1. Direct Object
Mother loves us.
Note: Do not use we which is in the subject case since
the pronoun here is used as a direct object of the verb
loves.
2. Indirect Object
James promised her a cake.
Note: Do not use she which is in the nominative case
since the pronoun here is used as an indirect object of
the verb promised.
3. Object of a Preposition
I received a package from them.
Note: Do not use they which is in nominative case since
the pronoun here is used as an object of the preposition
from.
CORRECT USE OF PRONOUNS
1. Pronouns used after the conjunctions than and as should
be if the same case as the word with which it is compared.
Lorna is as intelligent as he.
Note: He is compared to Lorna, which is in the nominative
case. Thus, he must be used which is in the nominative
case.
He has worked harder than they.
Note: They is compared to He, which is in the nominative
case. Thus, they should be used so that it may conform to
the case of the pronoun it is compared with.
We like Joseph better than him.
Note: Him is compared to Joseph, which is a direct object
and is thus in the objective case. Therefore, him which is in
the objective case as well should be used.
2. The interrogative pronoun who is used when the sentence
requires a pronoun in the nominative case. Whom is used
when the sentence requires a pronoun to be in the objective
case.
Who arrived safely?
Note: The pronoun stands for the subject of the verb in this
sentence. A pronoun used as a subject is in the nominative
case. Therefore, the correct interrogative pronoun is who,
which is int the normative case.
To whom do you send your love?
Note: The pronoun underlined was used as an object of the
preposition to. Remember that the object of a preposition
should be in the objective case. Therefore, whom must be
used instead of who.
Whom have you talked to?
Note: The pronoun underlined was used as an object of the
preposition to.
3. The relative pronoun who is used when the pronoun is the
subject of a verb. Whom is used when the pronoun is the
object of a verb or a preposition.
I have seen Larry who won the game for the school.
Note: Remember that a relative pronoun’s case depends on
the way the pronoun is used in the subordinate clause. In
this sentence the pronoun is used as the subject of the verb
won in the subordinate clause. Thus, the pronoun must be
in the nominative case.
The guy whom we have invited did not come.
Note: The pronoun in this instance is used as an object of
the verb have invited. Thus, the pronoun must be in the
objective case.
The man for whom she has dressed up has arrived.
Note: The pronoun in this instance is used as an object of
the preposition for. Thus, it is necessary that the pronoun be
in the objective case.
4. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person,
number, and gender. A pronoun must have the same
person (whether it be first, second, or third person) as the
noun or pronoun it refers to. It must also be singular or
plural, depending on whether the antecedent is singular or
plural. Then the pronoun must be masculine, feminine, or
neuter depending on whether the antecedent is feminine,
masculine, or neuter.
I am grooming myself for the ball.
Antecedent = I, which is singular and in the first person
Pronoun = myself, which is singular and in the first person
Sheila hugged her father.
Antecedent = Sheila, which is feminine, singular, and in the
first person.
Pronoun = her, which is feminine, singular, and in the first
person.
5. If the distributive pronouns each, either, and neither, as well
as the indefinite pronouns one, anyone, no one, nobody,
anybody, everyone, everybody, someone, and somebody
are used as the antecedents (or the word referred to), the
pronouns referring to them must be singular.
Everyone must bring his date.
6. If the indefinite pronouns like all, both, few, many, several,
and some which are generally plural are used as
antecedent, the pronouns used after should also be plural.
All were afraid of their teachers.
7. Compound personal pronouns also agree with their
antecedents in person, number, and gender.
Intensive The teacher himself gave her money.
Reflexive The teacher made herself give the money away.
8. When a sentence contains a negative, such as not or never,
use anything too express a negation. Use nothing only if the
sentence does not contain a negative already.
I can’t do anything.
Note: Using anything makes the sentence mean that the
speaker cannot do anything. Using nothing instead of
anything would make the sentence mean that the speaker
can indeed do something.
III.
THE DESCRIPTORS
Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or
thing in the sentence. Adjective describe or modify either nouns
or pronouns.
CLASSES OF ADJECTIVES
Descriptive Adjectives. An adjective that describes a noun or
a pronoun. There are also proper and common adjectives.
 Proper Adjective. An adjective that is formed from a
proper noun.
Ex: Victorian Gown, Spanish Bread

Common Adjective. An adjective that expresses the
ordinary qualities of a noun or pronoun.
Ex: Frilly gown, Delicious bread
Limiting Adjectives. An adjective that either points out an
object or denotes a number.
 Numerical Adjective. An adjective that denotes exact
number.
Ex: five ducks, ten fingers
 Pronominal Adjective. An adjective that may also by
used as a pronoun.
Ex: either cat, that bag
 Articles. Like the, a, and an are also limiting adjectives
because they denote whether a noun is definite or
indefinite.
Ex: the song, a memory, an undertaker
Rule of thumb: If pronouns modify nouns, then they are
considered as adjectives at that moment. Thus, aside from the
known adjective pronouns, interrogative pronouns that point to a
noun or a pronoun are also considered as pronominal
adjectives.
Ex: Which girl did you say he liked?
What mood is he in?
Whose turtle won the race?
POSITION OF ADJECTIVES
 Adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the
noun or noun phrase that they modify.
considerable efforts
Ex:
huge appetite
 Sometimes they appear in a string of adjectives, and when
they do, they appear in a set order according to category.
The following list show the usual order of adjectives when
they appear in a string. There are exceptions, of course but
this is the usual rule.
I.
Determiners – articles and other limiters.
II.
Observation – post determiners and limiter adjectives
(e.g., real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject
to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
III.
Size and Shape – adjectives subject to objective
measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)
IV.
Age – adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new,
ancient)
V.
Color – adjectives denoting color (e.g., yellow, blue,
pink)
VI.
Origin – denominal adjectives denoting source of noun
(e.g., French, American, Korean)
VII.
Material – denominal adjectives denoting what
something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)
VIII.
Qualifier – final limiter, often regarded as part of the
noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car,
book cover)
 When indefinite pronouns – such as something, someone,
anybody – are modified by an adjective, the adjective
comes after the pronoun:
Anyone capable of doing something horrible to
someone nice should be punished.
Something wicked is coming our way.


And there are certain adjectives that, in combination with
certain words, are always “postpositive" or always come
after the noun or pronoun they modify.
The president elect, heir apparent to the Glitzy fortune,
lives in New York proper.
There are also adjectives that usually come after the linking
verb and are thus called predicate adjectives. A-adjectives
or adjectives that begin with the letter a are usually found
after the linking verb and thus show up as predicate
adjectives.
Common a-adjectives
ablaze
alert
aloof
awake
afloat
alike
ashamed aware
afraid
alive
asleep
aghast
alone
averse
The children were ashamed.
The professor remained aloof.
 Occasionally, however, you will find a -adjective before the
word they modify:
the alert patient
the aloof physician
 Most of them, when found before the word they modify, are
themselves modified:
the nearly awake student
the terribly alone scholar
 And a-adjectives are sometimes modified by “very much”:
very much afraid
very much alone
very much ashamed
Basic rules in the position of adjectives in a sentence:
1. The usual position of adjectives is before the noun. They
are called attributive adjectives if they follow this rule.
Ex: The humble boy gave his thanks.
2. There are adjectives that follow a linking verb, completing
the thought expressed. These adjectives show up as
predicate adjectives.
Ex: The boy was cold and afraid.
3. An adjective may follow the direct object and at the same
time complete the thought expressed by the transitive verb.
These adjectives show up as objective complements.
Ex: We consider that work excellent.
Ex:
COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
The Correct Use of the Positive, Comparative and
Superlative Degrees
Adjectives can express different degrees of modification.
Aiza Mae is a rich woman, but Khryss is richer than
Gladys, and Totchelyn is the richest woman in town.
The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the
comparative, and the superlative.
 Positive – denotes the quality of noun or pronoun. There is
no comparison here.
Ex: sad girl
 Comparative – denotes the quality in a greater or lesser
degree.
Ex: sadder girl
 Superlative – denotes the quality in the greatest or least
degree.
Ex: saddest girl
We use the comparative for comparing two things and the
superlative for comparing three or more things. Notice that the
word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the
word the precedes the superlative. The inflected suffixes
-er and -est suffice to form most comparatives and superlatives,
although we need -ier and -iest when two-syllable adjective
ends in y (happier and happiest). When -er, -est, -ier, and -iest
are not suitable, we use more and most, or less and least when
an adjective has more than one syllable.
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
wide
wider
widest
lovely
lovelier
loveliest
gorgeous
more gorgeous
most gorgeous
handsome
less handsome
least handsome
Some adjective are irregular when it comes to forming the
comparative and the superlative. These are the most frequently
used:
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
little
less
least
bad, ill, evil
worse
worst
good
better
best
many, much
more
most
late
later, latter
latest, last
far
farther
farthest
fore
former
foremost, first
old
older, elder
oldest, eldest
near
nearer
nearest, next
further
furthest
inner
innermost, inmost
outer
outermost, outmost
upper
uppermost, upmost
Note: The positive for further, inner, outer, and upper do not
exist that is why they are blank.
Some adjectives do not take to comparison
absolute
ideal
adequate
impossible
chief
inevitable
dead
main
devoid
manifest
entire
minor
eternal
paramount
fatal
perpendicular
final
perpetual
preferable
principal
stationary
sufficient
supreme
unanimous
unbroken
universal
Both adverbs and adjectives in their comparative and
superlative forms can be accompanied by premodifiers, single
words and phrases that intensify the degree.
We were a lot more careful this time.
He works a lot less careful than the other jeweler in town.
We like his work so much better.
You’ll get your watch back all the faster.
The same process can be used to downplay the degree:
The weather this week has been somewhat better.
He approaches his schoolwork a little less industriously than
his brother does.
And sometimes a set phrase, usually an informal noun phrase,
is used for this purpose:
He arrived a whole lot sooner than we expected.
That’s a heck of a lot better.
If the intensifier very accompanies the superlative, a determiner
is also required:
She is wearing her very finest outfit for the interview.
They’re doing the very best they can.
Occasionally, the comparative or superlative form appears with
a determiner and the thing being modified is understood:
Of all the wines produced in Connecticut, I like this one the
most.
The quicker you finish this project, the better.
Of the two brothers, he is by far the faster.
The Correct Use of Fewer and Less
When making a comparison between quantities we often must
make a choice between the words fewer and less. Generally,
when we are talking about countable things, we use the word
fewer; when ae are talking about measurable quantities that we
cannot count, we use the word less.
She had fewer chores, but she also had less energy.
We do, however, use less when referring to statistical or
numerical expressions. In these situations, it is possible to
regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.
It’s less than twenty kilometers to the city.
The shark’s less than 10 feet long.
Your essay should be a thousand words or less.
We spent less than a thousand pesos on our excursion.
The Proper Use of Than
When making a comparison with than, do we end with a subject
form or object for? Which of the following expressions are
correct?
a. I am taller than she.
b. I am taller than her.
The correct response is letter a, taller than she. We are properly
looking for the subject form though we leave out the verb in the
second clause, is.
We also want to be careful in a sentence such as “I like him
better than she/her.” The she would mean that you like this
person better than she likes him; the her would mean that you
like this male person better than you like that female person. To
avoid ambiguity and the slippery use of than, we could write, ’I
like him better than she does” or “I like him better than I like
her.”
TRICKY ADJECTIVES
The Correct Use of Good and Well
In both casual speech and formal writing, we frequently have to
choose between the adjective good and the adverb, well. With
most verbs, there is no contest: when modifying a verb, use the
adverb.
He swims well.
He knows only too well who the murderer is.
However, when using a linking verb or a verb that has to do with
the five human senses, you want to use the adjective instead.
How are you? I’m feeling good, thank you.
After a bath, the baby smells so good.
Even after my careful paint job, this room doesn’t look
good.
Many careful writers, however, will use well after linking verbs
relating to health, and this is perfectly all right. In fact, to say that
you are good or that you feel good usually implies not only that
you're OK physically but also that your spirits are high.
“How are you?”
“I am well, thank you.”
The Proper Use of Bad and Badly
When your cat died (assuming you loved your cat), did you feel
bad or badly? Applying the same rule that applies to good
versus well, use the adjective form after verbs that have to do
with human feelings. You felt bad. If you said you felt badly, it
would mean that something was wrong with your faculties for
feeling.
Repetition of the Article
Analyze the meaning of the following sentences.
The chairman and president of the company walked
into the meeting.
The chairman and the president of the company
walked into the meeting.
The first sentence (where the article the is used only before the
first noun) indicates that one person is both chairman and
president of the company. The second sentence (where the
article the is used before each noun) indicates that the chairman
and the president are two different individuals.
IV.
THE ACTION WORDS
Verbs carry the idea of being or action in the sentence.
I am a student.
The students passed all their courses.
Verb Phrases are groups of word used to do the work of
a single verb.
He could have gone abroad.
She is called the “Ice Lady.”
Verb Phrases can be divided into two major components:
 Principal verb. The main verb in the verb phrase. In the
above underlined examples, the main verbs are gone and
called.
 Auxiliary Verb. The helping verb; that which is used with
the main verb to form its voice, mood and tense. Again in
the above examples, the helping verbs are could have and
is.
Following are examples of auxiliary verbs:
be are
do
has
will
might
am was did
had may could
is
were have shall can would
KINDS OF VERBS ACCORDING TO FORM
The principal parts of the verb are the present, the past, the
present participle, and the past participle.
According to the manner by which their principal parts are
formed, verbs may be regular, irregular, or defective.

Regular Verbs are verbs that form their past tense and
their past participle by adding d or ed to the present tense.
Present Past
Past Participle
pull
pulled
pulled
create
created created
greet
greeted greeted


Irregular Verbs are verbs that do not form their past tense
and their past participle by simply adding d or ed to the
present form.
Present Past
Past Participle
grow
grew
grown
drink
drank drunk
hear
heard heard
wring
wrung wrung
cut
cut
cut
go
went
gone
Defective Verbs are verbs that do not have all the principal
part.
Present Past
Past Participle
beware
can
could
may
might
must
must
ought
ought
shall
should
will
would
KINDS OF VERBS ACCORDING TO USE
Transitive Verbs are verbs that express action which passes
from a doer to a receiver.
Doer
Action
Receiver
I
saw
you.
The monkey
bit
the zookeeper
In some cases, the sentence is configured a different
way.
Active Voice:
She greeted her neighbor.
Passive Voice:
Her neighbor was greeted by Sheila.
In the first case, the verb form is greeted. In the second case,
the verb form is was greeted. In both cases, however, the verb
is transitive because the action passes from a doer to a
receiver.
Intransitive Verbs are verbs that have no receiver of their
action.
Doer
Action
Receiver
The dog
whined
the whole night.
She
sat
on the sofa.
Without a receiver, the above sentences are still complete.
Unlike transitive verbs, however, intransitive verbs are always in
the active voice since there is no receiver to start a sentence in
a passive voice with.
Verbs become transitive and intransitive according to their use
in the sentence.
She gave alms to the poor.
(Transitive)
She regularly gave to the poor. (Intransitive)
Cognate Verbs are verbs whose object repeats the meaning
implied by the verb itself. They are usually intransitive verbs
used transitively. Cognate means related.
Cognate Verb Object
She cried buckets of tears.
cried
tears
Lydia de Vega ran a brilliant race. ran
race
Linking Verbs connect a subject and its complement.
Sometimes called copulas, linking verbs are often forms of the
verb to be, but are sometimes verbs related to the five senses
(look, sound, smell, feel, taste) and sometimes verbs that
somehow reflect a state of being (appear, continue, seem,
become, grow, turn, prove, remain). Their main function is
linking or coupling the subject with a noun, a pronoun, or an
adjective.
 Subjective complement is a word or a group of words
used to complete the meaning of a linking verb.
o Predicate Nominative, if the subjective complement is
a noun or a pronoun.
o Predicate Adjective, subject complement is an
adjective.
Subject
Linking Verb Subjective
Complement
Her dress
looked
stunning.
PA
That gentleman is
the king.
PN
A handful of verbs that reflect a change in the state of being, are
sometimes called resulting copulas. They, too, link a subject to
a predicate adjective:
His face turned purple.
She became older.
The dogs run wild.
The milk has gone sour.
The crowd grew ugly.
THE VOICE OF A VERB
Voice is that quality of a verb that indicates whether the subject
is the doer or receiver of the action of the verb. Remember that
only transitive verbs may be used in the passive voice.
Intransitive verbs have no receivers (object) of the action. Verbs
are also said to be either active or passive in voice.
 Active Voice denotes the subject as the doer of the action.
In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is
straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the
verb moves the sentence along.
Example: Subject and Doer
The President of the Philippines signed the new bill
into law.
The professor scolded the class for an hour.
 Passive Voice denotes the subject as the receiver of the
action. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is
neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other
agent or by something unnamed (when it is, it is usually
named by an object of the preposition).
Example: Subject and Doer
The new bill was finally signed into law.
The class was scolded for an hour.
Statements and sentences in the passive voice abound. Notice
that when you use it yourself when using a computer, the
grammar check usually tells you to change it to the active voice.
There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if
you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so.
The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its
presence is not always to be despised. The passive is
particularly useful (even recommended) in two situations:
 When it is more important to draw our attention to the
person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was
apparently struck during the early morning hours.
 When the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora
borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.
THE VERB TENSE
Tense is the quality of a verb which denotes the time of the
action, the being, or the state of being.
Simple Tenses
 Present Tense – signifies action, being, or state of being in
present time.
 Past Tense - signifies action, being, or state of being in
past time.
 Future Tense - signifies action, being, or state of being in
future time.
Compound Tenses
 Present Perfect Tense - signifies action, being, or state of
being completed or perfected in present time. This is formed
by prefixing the auxiliary have or has to the past participle of
the verb
She has written the article
 Past Perfect Tense - signifies action, being, or state of
being completed or perfected before some definite past
time. This is formed by prefixing the auxiliary had to the past
participle of the verb.
She had written the article before I came.
 Future Perfect Tense - signifies action, being. or state of
being that will be completed or perfected before some
specified time in the future. This is formed by prefixing the
auxiliary shall have or will have to the past participle of the
verb.
She will have written the article before I come.
THE MOOD OF THE VERB
Mood or Mode is that quality of a verb that denotes the manner
in which the action, the being, or the state of being is expressed.
o Indicative Mood. The indicative mood of the verb is used to
make a statement, to deny a fact or ask a question.
The exam was easy.
I did not get the prize.
. What happened?
The Potential Form of the Indicative Mood
This is used to express permission, possibility, ability, necessity
and obligation. Thus, they are formed by using the auxiliary
verbs may, might, can, could, must, should and would. These
are called modals.
Permission You may begin.
Possibility
It might be so. It could happen.
Ability
The Philippines can do it.
Necessity
We must get out of this economic slump.
Obligation
Filipinos should start thinking of the collective
good for a change.
Imperative Mood. The imperative mood of the verb is used
when we're feeling sort of bossy and want to give a directive,
strong suggestion, or order:
Get your homework done before you watch
television tonight.
Please include cash payment with your order
form.
Get out of town!
Notice that there is no subject in these imperative sentences.
The pronoun you (singular or plural, depending on context) is
the "understood subject" in imperative sentences. Virtually all
imperative sentences, then, have a second person (singular or
plural) subject. The sole exception is the first person
construction, which includes an objective form as subject: "Let's
(or Let us) work on this thing together."
Subjunctive Mood. The subjunctive mood of the verb is used in
dependent clauses that do the following:
1. express a wish;
2. begin with if and express a condition that does not exist (is
contrary to fact);
3. begin with as if and as though when such clauses describe
a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and
4. begin with that and express a demand, requirement,
request, or suggestion.
She wishes her boyfriend were here.
If Juan were more aggressive, he'd be a better
hockey player.
We would have passed if we had studied
harder.
He acted as if he were guilty.
I requested that he be present at the hearing.
Important: The words if, as if, or as though do not always
signal the subjunctive mood. If the information in such a
clause points out a condition that is or was probable or likely,
the verb should be in the indicative mood. The indicative tells
the reader that the information in the dependent clause could
possibly be true.
The present tense of the subjunctive uses only the base form of
the verb.
He demanded that his students use two-inch
margins.
She suggested that we be on time tomorrow.
The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the
indicative except for the verb to be, which uses were regardless
of the number of the subject.
If I were seven feet tall, I'd be a great
basketball player.
He wishes he were a better student.
If you were rich, we wouldn't be in this mess.
If they were faster, we could have won that
race.
THE PERSON AND NUMBER OF VERBS
A verb may be in the first, the second, or the third person, and
either singular or plural in number.
Singular Number
Plural Number
First Person
I speak the truth.
We speak the truth
Second
You speak the truth. You speak the truth.
Person
Third Person
She speaks the
They speak the
truth.
truth.
He speaks the truth.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
The verb must always agree with its subject in person and
number. Of course, there are exceptions, as in the case of the
verb be in the subjunctive mode. In this case, the verb always
takes the form of were regardless of the number of the subject.
(See above for the discussion).
A singular subject requires a singular verb while a plural subject
requires a plural verb.
He likes the smell of wet grass. He is the singular subject;
likes is the singular verb.
The dancers dance so gracefully. Dancers is plural thus the
verb dance is plural, too.
The Proper Use of Doesn’t and Don’t
If the subject of the sentence is in the third person and singular,
doesn’t is the correct form of the verb. If the subject is in the first
or second person, regardless of the number, the correct form is
don’t.
The girl in the yellow shirt doesn’t like Math.
The volunteers don’t care about money.
I don’t know what I will do.
The Proper Use of There is and There are
o There is (or There was or There has been) should be used
when the subject that follows the verb is singular.
o There are (or There were or There have been) should be
used when the subject is plural.
There is a lot to be done yet.
There are awards to be had and medals to be won
The Proper Use of Here is and Here are
o Here is (or Here was or Here has been) should be used
when the subject that follows the verb is singular.
o Here are (or Here were or Here have been) should be used
when the subject is plural.
Here is food for everyone.
Here are drinks for us all.
The Proper Use of You as a Subject
When You is the subject, the plural conjugation of verbs (are,
were, have, etc.) should always be used, whether the You is
meant in the singular or plural sense.
You alone are the apple of my eye.
(subject is singular)
You (children) are the pride of your
(subject is plural)
school.
Subject-Verb Agreement when there are Parenthetical
Expressions
Sometimes modifiers will get between a subject and its verb, but
these modifiers must not confuse the agreement between the
subject and its verb.
The mayor, who has been convicted along with his
four brothers on four counts of various crimes but
who also seems, like a cat that has several political
lives, is finally going to jail.
Take note only of the subject. If the subject is singular, the verb
is singular. If the subject is plural, the verb is plural.
She alone among all my classmates commutes to
school.
Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with are
not the same as and. The phrase introduced by as well as or
along with will modify the earlier word (mayor in this case), but it
does not compound the subjects (as the word and would do).
The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.
The mayor and his brothers are going to jail.
Subject-Verb Agreement for Compounded Positive and
Negative Subjects
If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject
and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with
the positive subject.
The department members but not the chair have
decided not to teach on Valentine's Day. It is not the
faculty members but the president who decides this
issue.
It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked
the students to riot.
Subject-Verb Agreement for Compound Subjects
Connected by and
Compound subjects connected by and require a plural verb
unless the subjects refer to the same person or thing, or
express a single idea.
The president and the chairman are now taking their
seats.
The president and chairman is now taking his seat.
Subject-Verb Agreement for Compound Subjects Preceded
by each and every
Two or more singular subjects connected by and but preceded
by each, every, many a, or no require a singular verb.
Each man and woman was affected by the emotional
speech.
Many a child dreams to be a star.
Subject-Verb Agreement for Compound Subjects
Connected by or or nor
 Singular subjects connected by or or nor requires a singular
verb.
Neither Rowel nor Madonna wants to go first.
 Plural subjects connected by or or nor require a plural verb.
My grandparents or my sisters are attending my
graduation.
 When two subjects of different person or number are
connected by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject
nearest to it.
Joanna or her siblings are in the living room.
Neither my friends nor I am watching the late-night
movie.
Subject-Verb Agreement for Collective Nouns
A collective noun requires a singular verb if the idea being
expressed by the subject is a single unit. It requires a plural
verb if the idea expressed by the subject denotes separate
individuals. Note, however, that a collective noun is usually
thought of as a single unit, and thus, the verb that goes with it is
usually singular.
A dozen is enough.
The audience were on their feet.
Subject-Verb Agreement for Distributive and Indefinite
Pronouns
The distributive pronouns—each, either, neither—and the
indefinite pronouns—everyone, anyone, nobody, somebody,
everybody, someone, somebody—are always used with a
singular verb.
Each of us here is determined to get into a good
college.
Everyone here likes the thought of passing the
UPCAT.
Some indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular
or plural depending on what they're referring to. (Is the thing
referred to countable or not?) Be careful choosing a verb to
accompany such pronouns.
Some of the beads are missing.
Some of the water is gone.
On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that
can be either singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether
you use a singular or a plural verb — unless something else in
the sentence determines its number. (Writers generally think of
none as meaning not any and will choose a plural verb, as in
"None of the engines are working," but when something else
makes us regard none as meaning not one, we want a singular
verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")
None of you claims responsibility for this incident?
None of you claim responsibility for this incident?
None of the students have done their homework. (In
this last example, the word their precludes the use of
the singular verb.)
Subject-Verb Agreement for Special Singular and Plural
Nouns
Sometimes nouns take weird forms and can fool us into thinking
they are plural when they are really singular and vice-versa.
Some nouns are plural in form but are really singular in
meaning. Some words like this are aeronautics, athletics
(training), civics, economics, mathematics, statistics, measles,
molasses, mumps, news and physics.
Mathematics is Liza’s favorite subject.
On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single
thing but are nonetheless plural and require a plural verb.
My assets were wiped out in the depression.
The average worker's earnings have gone up
dramatically.
Our thanks go to the workers who supported the
union.
Words such as glasses, pants, pliers, and scissors are regarded
as plural (and require plural verbs) unless they're preceded by
the phrase pair of (in which case the word pair becomes the
subject).
My glasses were on the bed.
My pants were torn.
A pair of plaid trousers is in the closet.
The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a
plural verb:
The Miami Heat have been looking …
The Connecticut Sun are hoping that new talent …
Subject-Verb Agreement of Fractional Expressions, Sums
and Products, More Than One
Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage
of, a majority of are sometimes singular and sometimes plural,
depending on the meaning. They take the form of the noun they
are modifying and thus are singular or plural when the noun
modified is singular or plural, respectively. (The same is true,
of course, when all, any, more, most, and some act as
subjects.) Sums and products of mathematical processes are
expressed as singular and require singular verbs. The
expression more than one (oddly enough) takes a singular verb:
"More than one student has tried this."
Some of the voters are still angry.
A large percentage of the older population is voting
against her.
Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.
Subject-Verb Agreement of Money
When the subject of the sentence is money expressed in
currency, the verb should be singular.
A hundred pesos is not enough as a daily salary.
Five hundred dollars was all she was able to save.
USES OF SHALL AND WILL
Shall and Will
In the future tense of verbs, we use shall in the first person and
will in the second and third persons to express simple futurity or
expectation.
If we wish to indicate an act of the will, promise or determination
on the part of the speaker, we use will in the first person and
shall in the second and third persons.
Expectation/Simple Futurity
Determination/Promise
I shall go to the gym
I will go to the gym tomorrow.
tomorrow.
You will attend the party.
You shall attend the party.
She will be waiting.
She shall be waiting.
Should and Would
The same rule as applies on shall and shall applies to should
and would. To indicate an expectation or simple futurity, use
should in the first person and would in the second and third
persons. To indicate determination on the part of the speaker,
use would in the first person and should in the second and third
persons.
Expectation/Simple Futurity
Determination/Promise
I should be glad to help you.
I would be glad to help you.
You would cover for me.
You should cover for me.
They would love the idea.
They should love the idea.
Should can mean “ought to”. When meant this way, should is
frequently used in all three persons.
The youth should love their country.
Would can be used to express a wish or customary action.
When thus meant, would is used in all three persons.
I would often sit here alone and listen to the music.
Would that you could hear the music I listen to.
Shall and Will in Questions
Shall is always used to ask a question when the subject is in the
first person. In the second and third persons whichever word is
expected in the reply is used in asking the question.
Question
Expected Reply
Shall we dance?
We shall.
Will she do it?
She will.
TROUBLESOME VERBS (AND THEIR PRINCIPAL PARTS)
 Lie, lay, lain
This verb means to recline or to rest. It is always intransitive.
 Lay, laid, laid
This verb means to put or place in position. It is always
transitive.
 Sit, sat, sat
This verb means to have or to keep a seat. It is always
intransitive.
 Set, set, set
This verb means to place or fix in position. It is always transitive.
 Rise, rose, risen
This verb means to ascend. It is always intransitive.
 Raise, raised, raised
This verb means to lift. It is always transitive.
 Let, let, let
This verb means to permit or allow.
 Leave, left, left
This verb means to abandon or depart from.
WORDS USED AS NOUNS AND VERBS
A noun is a name-word, and a verb generally expresses action
or state of being. There are words, however, that can be a noun
or a verb depending on the way it is used in the sentence.
She appeared in my dream. (dream used as a noun)
Jose would often dream of being a famous actor.
(dream used as a verb)
VERBALS
Verbals are words that seem to carry the idea of action or being
but do not function as true verbs. They are sometimes called
"nonfinite" (unfinished or incomplete) verbs. Verbals are
frequently accompanied by other, related words in what is called
a verbal phrase.
 Participle: a verb form acting as an adjective.
The running dog chased the fluttering moth.
A present participle (like running or fluttering) describes a
present condition; a past participle describes something that has
happened:
The completely rotted tooth finally fell out of his mouth.
The distinction can be important to the meaning of a sentence;
there is a huge difference between a confusing student and a
confused student.
 Infinitive: the root of a verb plus the word to.
To sleep, perchance to dream.
A present infinitive describes a present condition:
I like to sleep.
The perfect infinitive describes a time earlier than that of the
verb:
I would like to have won that game.
The Split Infinitive
If there is one error in writing that your boss or history prof
can and will pick up on, it's the notorious split infinitive. An
infinitive is said to be "split" when a word (often an adverb) or
phrase sneaks between the to of the infinitive and the root of
the verb: "to boldly go," being the most famous of its kind.
The argument against split infinitives (based on rather shaky
historical grounds) is that the infinitive is a single unit and,
therefore, should not be divided. Because it raises so many
readers' hackles and is so easy to spot, good writers, at least
in academic prose, avoid the split infinitive. Instead of writing
"She expected her grandparents to not stay," then, we could
write "She expected her grandparents not to stay."
Sometimes, though, avoiding the split infinitive simply isn't
worth the bother. There is nothing wrong, really, with a
sentence such as the following:
He thinks he'll be able to more than double his salary this
year.
The Oxford American Desk Dictionary, which came out in
October of 1998, says that the rule against the split infinitive
can generally be ignored, that the rule "is not firmly grounded,
and treating two English words as one can lead to awkward,
stilted sentences." ("To Boldly Go," The Hartford Courant. 15
Oct 1998.) Opinion among English instructors and others who
feel strongly about the language remains divided, however.
Today's dictionaries allow us to split the infinitive, but it
should never be done at the expense of grace. Students
would be wise to know their instructor's feelings on the
matter, workers their boss's.
Gerund: a verb form, ending in -ing, which acts as a noun.
Running in the park after dark can be dangerous.
Gerunds are frequently accompanied by other associated words
making up a gerund phrase ("running in the park after dark").
Gerunds and gerund phrases are nouns, so they can be used in
any way that a noun can be used:
as subject: Being king can be dangerous for your health
as object of the verb: He didn't particularly like being king.
as object of a preposition: He wrote a book about being king.
V.
THE INTENSE WORDS
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or
another adverb.
Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or
lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three
different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone.
Here are some examples:
Emphasizers:
I really don't believe him.
He literally wrecked his mother's car.
She simply ignored me.
They're going to be late, for sure.
Amplifiers:
The teacher completely rejected her proposal.
I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.
They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
I so wanted to go with them.
We know this city well.
Downtoners:
I kind of like this college.
Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister.
His mother mildly disapproved of his actions.
We can improve on this to some extent.
The boss almost quit after that.
The school was all but ruined by the storm.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF ADVERBS
Classifications According to Meaning
Adverbs may be classified according to their meaning.
 Adverbs of Manner (answer the question how or in what
manner)
She moved slowly and spoke quietly.
 Adverbs of Place (answer the question where).
She has lived on the island all her life.
She still lives there now.
 Adverbs of Frequency (answer the question how often)
She takes the boat to the mainland every day.
She often goes by herself.

Adverbs of Degree (answer the question how much or how
little)
I’m half finished with my project.
I’m much obliged

Adverbs of Time (answer the question when)
She tried to get back before dark.
It's starting to get dark now.
She finished her tea first.
She left early.
 Adverbs of Purpose (answer the question why or for what
purpose)
He drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.
She shops in several stores to get the best buys.
Classifications According to Use
 Simple Adverbs
A simple adverb is an adverb used merely as a modifier.
She does not think about it much.
 Interrogative Adverbs
An interrogative adverb is an adverb used in asking questions.
The interrogative adverbs are how, when, where, and why.
 Conjunctive Adverbs
A conjunctive adverb is an adverb that does the work of an
adverb and a conjunction. The principal conjunctive adverbs are
after, until, as, when, before, where, since, and while.
We played poker while we were there.
While tells when the action happened and is therefore an
adverb. However, it also connects the clause while we were
there with the verb played and is therefore a conjunction.
 Relative Adverbs
A relative adverb is a word that does the work of an adverb and
a relative pronoun. The principal relative adverbs are when,
where, and why.
A home where prayers are said is a spiritually-content
one.
Since where tells a place of the action, it is an adverb. However,
as it joins the subordinate clause where prayers are observed to
the noun home which is the antecedent of where, it also does
the work of a relative pronoun.
 Adverbial Objectives
An adverbial objective is a noun that expresses time, distance,
measure, weight, value or direction, and performs the function
of adverbs.
The sun beat on the laborers’ backs all day.
In the above example, day, a noun, tells how long the sun beat
on the laborers’ backs. The noun day modifies the verb beat
and thus performs the function of an adverb.
COMPARISON OF ADVERBS
Regular Comparison
Some adverbs form the comparative by adding –er to the
positive; and the superlative degree by adding – est to the
positive degree.
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
fast
faster
fastest
often
oftener
oftenest
Other adverbs, particularly those ending in –ly, form the
comparative degree by adding more or less to the positive; and
the superlative degree by adding most or least to the positive.
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
frequently
more frequently
most frequently
legibly
less legibly
least legibly
Irregular Comparison
Some adverbs are compared irregularly. In this case it is
necessary to learn the comparative and superlative degrees.
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
badly
worse
worst
far
farther
farthest
forth
further
furthest
little
less
least
much
more
most
well
better
best
Many adverbs denoting time and place (here, now, then, when,
where, again, always, down, above) and adverbs expressing
absoluteness or completeness (round, eternally, universally,
never, perfectly, forever) cannot be compared.
Pre-modifiers
Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be
accompanied by premodifiers:
She runs very fast.
We're going to run out of material all the faster.
THE CORRECT USE OF ADVERBS
Distinguishing Between Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs modify verbs,
adjectives, and other adverbs. Sometimes, however, the
function of a word in the sentence is not so very obvious and
one gets confused as to whether a word is a predicate adjective
(when it modifies the subject) or an adverb that modifies the
verb, an adjective or another verb.
There is a rule of thumb to easily distinguish one from the other.
Predicate adjectives are used only with linking verbs (be and its
forms, appear, become, continue, feel, grow, look, remain,
seem, smell, sound and taste).
Gretchen looked happy.
(equivalent to Gretchen was happy, and is thus an
adjective.)
Gretchen looked closely at the book.
(tells how Gretchen looked at the book and is thus an
adverb)
Gretchen looked radiantly lovely.
(tells how lovely and is thus an adverb)
“Farther” and “Further”
“Farther” denotes distance. “Further” denotes an addition. Both
words may be used either as adjectives or adverbs.
The farther you go, the better.
The facilitator explained the rules further.
Uses of There
“There” may be an adverb denoting place, or it may be an
expletive used to introduce a sentence.
There is the gift.
There is something missing.
In the first sentence, “there” is part of the sentence. In the
second sentence, the expletive is not necessary for it merely
introduces the subject to follow the predicate verb. Thus it can
be removed from the sentence. The two sentences above can
be rewritten as:
The gift is there.
Something is missing.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES AND ADVERBIAL PHRASES
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an
adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an adverb
clause:
When this class is over, we're going to the movies.
When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts
as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase.
 Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions
(telling place and time, modifying the verb):
He went to the movies.
She works on holidays.
They lived in Canada during the war.
 Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):
She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.
The senator ran to catch the bus.
 But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:
He calls his mother as often as possible.
CORRECT POSITION OF ADVERBS
One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around
in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly flexible in this
regard.
Solemnly, the minister addressed her congregation.
The minister solemnly addressed her congregation.
The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.
Adverbs of frequency may appear
 before the main verb: I never get up before nine o'clock
 between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: I have
rarely written to my brother without a good reason.
 before the verb used to: I always used to see him at his
summer home.
Indefinite adverbs of time may appear either
 before the verb, or
He finally showed up for batting practice.
 between the auxiliary and the main verb:
She has recently retired.
Inappropriately placed adverbs
Adverbs can sometimes attach themselves to, and thus modify
words that they ought not to modify.
They reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock
star, had died on the six o'clock news.
Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a
position immediately after "they reported" or even to the
beginning of the sentence — so the poor man doesn't die on
television.
Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such
as only and barely:
She only grew to be four feet tall.
It would be better if "She grew to be only four feet tall."
The Order of Multiple Adverbs
There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there
is more than one.
I.
Verb
II.
Manner
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Place
Frequency
Time
Purpose
Jungkook walks impatiently into town every afternoon before
supper to get a newspaper.
In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have
a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most).
Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of
the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the
sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Jungkook impatiently
walks into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the
introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a
comma.
More Notes on Adverb Order
As a general principle, shorter adverbial phrases precede
longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. In the following
sentence, an adverb of time precedes an adverb of frequency
because it is shorter (and simpler):
Jungkook takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day
of his life.
A second principle: Among adverbial phrases of the same kind
(manner, place, frequency, etc.), the more specific adverbial
phrase comes first:
My grandmother was born in a sod house on the plains
of northern Nebraska.
She promised to meet him for lunch next Tuesday.
A third principle: Bringing an adverbial modifier to the
beginning of the sentence can place special emphasis on that
modifier. This is particularly useful with adverbs of manner:
Slowly, ever so carefully, Jesse filled the coffee cup up
to the brim, even above the brim.
Occasionally, but only occasionally, one of these
lemons will get by the inspectors.
Special Cases on Positioning Adverbs
1. “Enough”
The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a
postmodifier position:
Is that music loud enough?
These shoes are not big enough.
In a roomful of elderly people, you must remember to
speak loudly enough.
Notice, though, that when enough functions as an adjective, it
can come before the noun:
Did she give us enough time?
The adverb enough is often followed by an infinitive:
She didn't run fast enough to win.
2. “Too”
The adverb too comes before adjectives and other adverbs:
She ran too fast.
She works too quickly.
If too comes after the adverb it is probably a disjunct (meaning
also) and is usually set off with a comma:
Jungkook works hard. He works quickly, too.
The adverb too is often followed by an infinitive:
She runs too slowly to enter this race.
Another common construction with the adverb too is too
followed by a prepositional phrase — for + the object of the
preposition — followed by an infinitive:
This milk is too hot for a baby to drink.
VI.
PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, INTERJECTIONS
PREPOSITIONS
A preposition is a word or a group of words that describes a
relationship between its object and another word in a sentence.
In the following sentence, on describes the relationship between
the verb ride and the object of the preposition (which is a noun)
bus.
Do not ride on that bus.
The following is a list of the most commonly used prepositions:
about
behind
from
through
above
beside
in
throughout
across
between
into
to
after
beyond
near
toward
against
by
of
under
among
down
off
until
around
during
on
up
at
except
over
with
before
for
past
1. The Object of a Preposition
The object of a preposition is a noun, a pronoun or a group of
words used as a noun.
I run in the park every morning. (in + noun)
I always run into you. (into + pronoun)
We took the stool from under the desk. (from + phrase)
She passed near where you stood.
(near + clause)
2. Words Used as Adverbs and Prepositions
An adverb tells how, when, and where. A preposition shows the
relation between its objects and some other word in the
sentence.
I would like to move in by the end of the month.
(adverb)
I am just in the house. (preposition)
3. The Correct Use of Prepositions
 Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in
We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.
We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.
We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a
season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.
 Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in
We use at for specific addresses.
Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.
We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.
And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties,
states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.
Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on and No Preposition
IN
AT
ON
NO
PREPOSITION
(the) bed*
class*
the bed*
downstairs
the
home
the ceiling downtown
bedroom
the library*
the floor
inside
the car
the office
the horse
outside
(the) class*
school*
the plane
upstairs
the library*
work
the train
uptown
school*
*You may sometimes use different prepositions for these
locations.
 Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition
We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
They were driving to work together.
She's going to the dentist's office this morning.
Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to
express movement. These are simply variant spellings of
the same word; use whichever sounds better to you.
We're moving toward the light.
This is a big step towards the project's completion.
With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside,
downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
Grandma went upstairs.
Grandpa went home.
They both went outside.
 Prepositions of Time: for and since
We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours,
days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She's lived there for seven years.
The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven
centuries.
We use since with a specific date or time.
He's worked here since 1970.
She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.
 “Between” and “Among”
“Between” is used in speaking of two persons or objects.
“Among” is used in speaking of more than two.
I choose Group A between the two competing groups.
She divided her bounty among her loyal supporters.
 “Beside” and “Besides”
“Beside” means at the side of. “Besides” means in addition
to.
Come and sit beside me.
Besides working days at the mall, she also worked
nights at a coffee shop.
 “From”
Use “from”, not “off of”, to indicate the person from whom
something is obtained.
I bought this dog from that boy.
 “Behind”
Use “behind”, not “in back of”, to indicate location at the rear
of.
The vase is directly behind you.

“Different From”
Use “from”, not “than”, after the adjective different.
Everyone is different from everybody else.
 “Differ From” and “Differ With”
“Differ with” denotes disagreement of opinion. “Differ from”
denotes differences in characteristic between persons or
things.
The treasurer differs with the board on the budget
allocation.
Candies differ from each other in color.
 “Within”
Use “within” not “inside of” to denote the time within which
something will occur.
The seasons are changing within a few weeks.
 “Angry with” and “Angry At”
Use “angry with” a person and “angry at” a thing.
Sheila is very angry with Mark.
George was angry at the result of the election.
 “Need of”
Use “need of” not “need for”.
My son has no further need of your services.
 “In” and “Into”
“In” denotes position within. “Into” denotes motion or change
of position.
I am in the city.
I am going into the building.
 Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions
Agree: to a proposal, with a person, on a price, in principle
Argue: about a matter, with a person, for or against a
proposition
Compare: to to show likenesses, with to show differences
(sometimes similarities) Correspond: to a thing, with a
person
Differ: from an unlike thing, with a person
Live: at an address, in a house or city, on a street, with
other people
 Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.
Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other
words that they have practically become one word. The
following groups of words are considered as one preposition
when used with nouns or pronouns. This occurs in three
categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS
approval of
fondness for
need for
awareness of
grasp of
participation in
belief in
hatred of
reason for
concern for
hope for
respect for
confusion about
interest in
success in
desire for
love of
understanding of
ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of
fond of
proud of
angry at
happy about
similar to
aware of
interested in
sorry for
capable of
jealous of
sure of
careless about
made of
tired of
familiar with
married to
worried about
VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for
give up
prepare for
ask about
grow up
study for
ask for
look for
talk about
belong to
look forward to
think about
bring up
look up
trust in
care for
make up
work for
find out
pay for
worry about
A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb.
The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle.
 Unnecessary Prepositions
In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using
prepositions where they are not necessary. It would be a
good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must
be especially careful not to use them in formal, academic
prose.
She met up with the new coach in the hallway.
The book fell off of the desk.
He threw the book out of the window.
She wouldn't let the cat inside of the house. [or use "in"]
Where did they go to?
Put the lamp in back of the couch.
[use "behind" instead]
Where is your college at?
 Prepositions in Parallel Form
When two words or phrases are used in parallel and require
the same preposition to be idiomatically correct, the
preposition does not have to be used twice.
You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter.
The female was both attracted by and distracted by the
male's dance.
However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for
different prepositions, we must be careful not to omit one of
them.
The children were interested in and disgusted by the
movie.
It was clear that this player could both contribute to and
learn from every game he played.
He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling
woman.
CONJUNCTIONS
A conjunction is a word that connects (conjoins) parts of a
sentence. It connects words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence.
It’s raining cats and dogs. (connects words)
That is not the norm, in times of peace or in times of
turmoil. (connects phrases)
I did not mean to insult you but it seems I did. (connects
clauses).
Kinds of Conjunctions
1. Coordinate or Coordinating Conjunctions – are
conjunctions that connect words, phrases, or clauses of
equal rank. The following are the coordinate conjunctions,
arranged in an acronym that makes them easier to
understand.
F
- for
A
- and
N
- nor
B
- but
O
- or
Y
- yet
S
- so
Be careful of the words then and now; neither is a
coordinating conjunction, so what we say about
coordinating conjunctions' roles in a sentence and
punctuation does not apply to those two words.
Rules on Punctuation
1. When a coordinating conjunction connects two independent
clauses, it is often (but not always) accompanied by a
comma:
Jungkook wants to play for UConn, but he has had
trouble meeting the academic requirements.
2. When the two independent clauses connected by a
coordinating conjunction are nicely balanced or brief, many
writers will omit the comma:
Jungkook has a great jump shot but he isn't quick on his
feet.
3. The comma is always correct when used to separate two
independent clauses connected by a coordinating
conjunction. A comma is also correct when and is used to
attach the last item of a serial list, although many writers
(especially in newspapers) will omit that final comma:
Jungkook spent his summer studying basic math,
writing, and reading comprehension.
4. When a coordinating conjunction is used to connect all the
elements in a series, a comma is not used:
Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists are the
prevalent Protestant congregations in Oklahoma.
5. A comma is also used with but when expressing a contrast:
This is a useful rule, but difficult to remember.
6. In most of their other roles as joiners (other than joining
independent clauses, that is), coordinating conjunctions can
join two sentence elements without the help of a comma.
Hemingway and Fitzgerald are among the American
expatriates of the between-the-wars era.
Hemingway was renowned for his clear style and his
insights into American notions of male identity.
It is hard to say whether Hemingway or Fitzgerald is the
more interesting cultural icon of his day.
Although Hemingway is sometimes disparaged for his
unpleasant portrayal of women and for his glorification
of machismo, we nonetheless find some sympathetic,
even heroic, female figures in his novels and short
stories.
Beginning a Sentence with “And” and “But”
A frequently asked question about conjunctions is whether and
or but can be used at the beginning of a sentence. This is what
R.W. Burchfield has to say about this use of and:
There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a
sentence with And, but this prohibition has been cheerfully
ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards.
An initial And is a useful aid to writers as the narrative
continues.
The same is true with the conjunction but. A sentence beginning
with and or but will tend to draw attention to itself and its
transitional function. Writers should examine such sentences
with two questions in mind: (1) would the sentence and
paragraph function just as well without the initial conjunction?
(2) should the sentence in question be connected to the
previous sentence? If the initial conjunction still seems
appropriate, use it.
The Usual Meanings of the FANBOYS
The coordinate conjunctions can mean many things. The
following outline their most common meanings.
AND
 To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to
another: "Jasmine sent in her applications and waited by the
phone for a response."
 To suggest that one idea is the result of another: "Willie
heard the weather report and promptly boarded up his
house."
 To suggest that one idea is in contrast to another
(frequently replaced by but in this usage): "Juanita is brilliant
and Shalimar has a pleasant personality.
 To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes replaced by
yet in this usage): "Hartford is a rich city and suffers from
many symptoms of urban blight."
 To suggest that one clause is dependent upon another,
conditionally (usually the first clause is an imperative): "Use
your credit cards frequently and you'll soon find yourself
deep in debt."
 To suggest a kind of "comment" on the first clause: "Charlie
became addicted to gambling — and that surprised no one
who knew him."
BUT
 To suggest a contrast that is unexpected in light of the first
clause: "Joey lost a fortune in the stock market, but he still
seems able to live quite comfortably."
 To suggest in an affirmative sense what the first part of the
sentence implied in a negative way (sometimes replaced by
on the contrary): "The club never invested foolishly, but
used the services of a sage investment counselor."
 To connect two ideas with the meaning of "with the
exception of" (and then the second word takes over as
subject): "Everybody but Jimmy is trying out for the team."
OR
 To suggest that only one possibility can be realized,
excluding one or the other: "You can study hard for this
exam or you can fail."
 To suggest the inclusive combination of alternatives: "We
can broil chicken on the grill tonight, or we can just eat
leftovers.
 To suggest a refinement of the first clause: "Smith College
is the premier all-women's college in the country, or so it
seems to most Smith College alumnae."
 To suggest a restatement or "correction" of the first part of
the sentence: "There are no rattlesnakes in this canyon, or
so our guide tells us."
 To suggest a negative condition: "The New Hampshire state
motto is the rather grim "Live free or die."
 To suggest a negative alternative without the use of an
imperative (see use of and above): "They must approve his
political style or they wouldn't keep electing him mayor."
NOR
The conjunction NOR is not extinct, but it is not used nearly as
often as the other conjunctions, so it might feel a bit odd when
nor does come up in conversation or writing. Its most common
use is as the little brother in the correlative pair, neither-nor:
He is neither sane nor brilliant.
That is neither what I said nor what I meant.
 It can be used with other negative expressions:
That is not what I meant to say, nor should you interpret
my statement as an admission of guilt.
 It is possible to use nor without a preceding negative
element, but it is unusual and, to an extent, rather stuffy:
George's handshake is as good as any written contract,
nor has he ever proven untrustworthy.
YET
The word YET functions sometimes as an adverb and has
several meanings: in addition ("yet another cause of trouble" or
"a simple yet noble woman"), even ("yet more expensive"), still
("he is yet a novice"), eventually ("they may yet win"), and so
soon as now ("he's not here yet"). It also functions as a
coordinating conjunction meaning something like "nevertheless"
or "but." The word yet seems to carry an element of
distinctiveness that but can seldom register.
John plays basketball well, yet his favorite sport is
badminton.
The visitors complained loudly about the heat, yet they
continued to play golf every day.
In sentences such as the second one, above, the pronoun
subject of the second clause ("they," in this case) is often left
out. When that happens, the comma preceding the conjunction
might also disappear: "The visitors complained loudly yet
continued to play golf every day."
Yet is sometimes combined with other conjunctions, but or and.
It would not be unusual to see and yet in sentences like the
ones above. This usage is acceptable.
FOR
The word FOR is most often used as a preposition, of course,
but it does serve, on rare occasions, as a coordinating
conjunction. Some people regard the conjunction for as rather
highfalutin and literary, and it does tend to add a bit of
weightiness to the text. Beginning a sentence with the
conjunction "for" is probably not a good idea, except when
you're singing "For he's a jolly good fellow. "For" has serious
sequential implications and in its use the order of thoughts is
more important than it is, say, with because or since. Its function
is to introduce the reason for the preceding clause:
John thought he had a good chance to get the job, for
his father was on the company's board of trustees.
Most of the visitors were happy just sitting around in the
shade, for it had been a long, dusty journey on the train.
SO
Be careful of the conjunction SO. Sometimes it can connect two
independent clauses along with a comma, but sometimes it
can't. For instance, in this sentence,
Soto is not the only Olympic athlete in his family, so are
his brother, sister, and his Uncle Chet.
where the word so means "as well" or "in addition," most careful
writers would use a semicolon between the two independent
clauses. In the following sentence, where so is acting like a
minor-league "therefore," the conjunction and the comma are
adequate to the task:
Soto has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it
is no surprise that he avoids crowds of his adoring fans.
Sometimes, at the beginning of a sentence, so will act as a kind
of summing up device or transition, and when it does, it is often
set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma:
So, the sheriff peremptorily removed the child from the
custody of his parents.
2. Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions are coordinate conjunctions used
in pairs. The most commonly used correlative conjunctions
are:
both . . . and
neither . . . nor
not only . . . but also
whether . . . or
not . . . but
as . . . as
either . . . or
3. Subordinate Conjunctions
A subordinate conjunction is a conjunction that connects
clauses of unequal rank. It connects a subordinate clause to
a principal or an independent clause. A subordinate clause
is one that depends upon some other part of a sentence.
Following is a list of the most common subordinate
conjunctions:
after
even if
since
when
although
even though so that whenever
as
if
than
where
as if
if only
that
whereas
as long as in order that though wherever
as though now that
till
while
because
once
unless
before
rather than
until
The conjunctive adverbs—the words that do the work of
an adverb and a conjunction—such as however, moreover,
nevertheless, consequently, as a result are used to create
complex relationships between ideas and are likewise
considered as subordinate conjunctions.
The Case of Like and As
Strictly speaking, the word like is a preposition, not a
conjunction. It can, therefore, be used to introduce a
prepositional phrase ("My brother is tall like my father"), but it
should not be used to introduce a clause ("My brother can't play
the piano like as he did before the accident" or "It looks like as if
basketball is quickly overtaking baseball as America's national
sport."). To introduce a clause, it's a good idea to use as, as
though, or as if, instead.
Like As I told you earlier, the lecture has been
postponed.
It looks like as if it's going to snow this afternoon.
Jungkook kept looking out the window like as though he
had someone waiting for him.
In formal, academic text, it's a good idea to reserve the use of
like for situations in which similarities are being pointed out:
This community college is like a two-year liberal arts
college.
However, when you are listing things that have similarities, such
as is probably more suitable:
The college has several highly regarded neighbors, like
such as the Mark Twain House, St. Francis Hospital,
the Connecticut Historical Society, and the UConn Law
School.
Omitting That
The word that is used as a conjunction to connect a subordinate
clause to a preceding verb. In this construction that is
sometimes called the "expletive that." Indeed, the word is often
omitted to good effect, but the very fact of easy omission causes
some editors to take out the red pen and strike out the
conjunction that wherever it appears. In the following sentences,
we can happily omit the that (or keep it, depending on how the
sentence sounds to us):
Isabel knew [that] she was about to be fired.
She definitely felt [that] her fellow employees hadn't
supported her.
I hope [that] she doesn't blame me.
Sometimes omitting the that creates a break in the flow of a
sentence, a break that can be adequately bridged with the use
of a comma:
The problem is, that production in her department has
dropped.
Remember, that we didn't have these problems before
she started working here.
As a general rule, if the sentence feels just as good without the
that, if no ambiguity results from its omission, if the sentence is
more efficient or elegant without it, then we can safely omit the
that. Theodore Bernstein lists three conditions in which we
should maintain the conjunction that:
 When a time element intervenes between the verb and the
clause: "The boss said yesterday that production in this
department was down fifty percent." (Notice the position of
"yesterday.")
 When the verb of the clause is long delayed: "Our annual
report revealed that some losses sustained by this
department in the third quarter of last year were worse than
previously thought." (Notice the distance between the
subject "losses" and its verb, "were.")
 When a second that can clear up who said or did what: "The
CEO said that Isabel's department was slacking off and that
production dropped precipitously in the fourth quarter." (Did
the CEO say that production dropped or was the drop a
result of what he said about Isabel's department? The
second that makes the sentence clear.)
Beginning a Sentence with Because
Somehow, the notion that one should not begin a sentence with
the subordinating conjunction because retains a mysterious grip
on people's sense of writing proprieties. This might come about
because a sentence that begins with because could well end up
a fragment if one is not careful to follow up the "because clause"
with an independent clause.
Because e-mail now plays such a huge role in our
communications industry.
When the "because clause" is properly subordinated to another
idea (regardless of the position of the clause in the sentence),
there is absolutely nothing wrong with it:
Because e-mail now plays such a huge role in our
communications industry, the postal service would very
much like to see it taxed in some manner.
4. Other Connectives
Although the work of conjunctions is to connect, this does
not mean that all connectives are conjunctions. Relative
adverbs and relative pronouns are also used to connect
clauses of unequal rank.
Since it is raining, the picnic will be postponed.
Wednesday is the day when we shall have the picnic.
(Relative Adverb)
We shall have our picnic in the grove that adjoins the
school grounds. (Relative pronoun)
The Correct use of Conjunctions
1. “Than” and “As”
The conjunctions “than” and “as” are used to compare one
thing with another, and there is usually an omission of
words after each. The substantive word which follows “than”
or “as” must be in the same case as the word with which it
is compared. Particular care must be taken when the
substantive is a personal pronoun.
She is smaller than I am small.
I am as small as she is small.
2. “Unless” and “Without”
“Unless” is a conjunction and introduces a clause. “Without”
is a preposition and introduces a “phrase”.
We are going on as planned unless it rains. We would
go without umbrellas and hats.
3. “Like”, “As”, and “As If”
“As” and “As if” are conjunctions and are used to introduce
clauses. “Like” is a preposition and is used to introduce a
phrase.
He talks as a child talks. (Clause)
He talks as if he’s running out of words. (Clause)
He talks like a chipmunk. (Phrase)
INTERJECTIONS
Interjections are words or phrases used to exclaim or protest or
command. They express some strong or sudden emotion. They
sometimes stand by themselves, but they are often contained
within larger structures.
Look! There’s a bird.
Wait! I don’t understand
Wow! I won the lottery!
Oh, I don't know about that.
I don't know what the heck you're talking about.
No, you shouldn't have done that.
An interjection is grammatically distinct from the rest of the
sentence. They may express delight, disgust, contempt, pain,
assent, joy, impatience, surprise, sorrow, and so forth. They are
generally set off from the rest of the sentence by exclamation
points. An entire sentence, however, may be exclamatory. If the
sentence is exclamatory, the interjection is followed by a comma
and the exclamation point is placed at the end of the sentence.
Following is a list of the most common interjections:
Ah!
Hark!
Listen!
Sh!
Alas!
Hello!
Lo!
What!
Beware!
Hurrah!
Oh!
Good!
Bravo!
Hush!
Ouch!
Indeed!
The Proper Use of “O” and “Oh”
The interjection “O” is used only before a noun in direct address.
It is not directly followed by an exclamation point. “Oh” is used
to express surprise, sorrow, or joy. It is followed by an
exclamation point unless the emotion continues throughout the
sentence.
O God! Help me please!
Oh, I love you!
Oh! She is here.
SYNTAX AND MECHANICS POINTERS
I.
PHRASES
A phrase is a group of related words used as a single part of
speech. They mainly add variety to and relieve monotony of
sentences. Look at the following sentences:
Vietnamese scarves are all the rage this season.
Scarves from Vietnam are all the rage this season.
I sadly looked at her.
I looked at her with sadness.
Note that the subsequent sentences mean the same thing. Only
in the first sentence, a single word is used to modify the noun
scarves whereas in the second one, a group of words modify
scarves. Likewise in the third sentence, one word – sadly –
modify the verb looked whereas in the second one, a group of
words – with sadness – modifies the same verb looked.
KINDS OF PHRASES
Divisions according to Form
Phrases may be introduced by prepositions, participles, or
infinitives.
The introductory word determines the
classification of the phrase according to form.
 A prepositional phrase is a phrase introduced by a
preposition.
 A participial phrase is a phrase introduced by a
participle.
 An infinitive phrase is a phrase introduced by an
infinitive.
Examples:
I am leaving in an hour. (prepositional phrase)
The boy wearing the baseball cap is our school’s team
captain. (participial phrase)
To be free is all I ask for. (infinitive phrase)
Divisions according to Use
Phrases may be used as adjectives, as adverbs, or as nouns.
The function determines the classification of a phrase according
to use.
 An adjectival phrase is a phrase used as an adjective.
 An adverbial phrase is a phrase used as an adverb.
 A noun phrase is a phrase used as a noun.
Examples:
A group of students went past. (adjectival phrase)
I motioned to her to her with sweeping gestures.
(adverbial phrase)
She liked being admired. (noun phrase)
II.
CLAUSES
A clause is a part of the sentence containing, in itself, a subject
and a predicate.
KINDS OF CLAUSES
Independent Clause
Clauses that make independent statements are called
independent or coordinate clauses. The independent clause
forms a complete sentence by itself. They are also referred to
as principal clauses when used with subordinate clauses.
Subordinate Clause
Clauses that depend upon some other part of the sentence are
dependent or subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause is
therefore not complete without the principal clause.
Examples:
It was he who helped me get my confidence back.
IC
SC
It is imperative that you keep your promise.
IC
SC
TYPES OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES
Subordinate clauses may be used as adjectives, adverbs, or
nouns; and as such are known as adjectival, adverbial, or noun
clauses.
Adjectival Clause
An adjective clause is a subordinate clause used as an
adjective. Adjectival clauses are usually introduced by relative
pronouns (e.g. who, which, what, and that) or relative adverbs
(e.g. when, where, and why).
The girl who is wearing the red obi topped the UPCAT
last year.
 A restrictive clause is a clause that helps point out, or
identifies a certain person or object, and is a necessary part
of the sentence.
He who has loved much is much loved as well.
 A nonrestrictive clause is a clause that merely adds to the
information given in the principal clause and is not
necessary to the sense of the sentence.
He, who has loved much, is much loved as well.
Adverbial Clause
An adverbial clause is a subordinate clause used as an adverb.
Remember that adverbial clauses, just like adverbs, may modify
a verb, an adverb, or an adjective. Adverbial clauses are usually
introduced by conjunctive adverbs (e.g. after, until, as, when,
before, where, since, and while) or subordinate conjunctions
(e.g. as, that, since, because, then, so, for, than, though, if,
provided, and unless).
Gregory was on his way home when the bullies
assaulted him.
Note on punctuation:
Every introductory adverbial clause may be separated by a
comma. In certain adverbial clauses, a comma is necessary to
make a meaning clear.
When you arrive, please get the mail. (may or may not
use a comma)
After he ate too quickly, his stomach ached. (comma is
necessary; without the comma the reader will be
confused about which quickly modifies: ate or ached)
Noun Clauses
A noun clause is a subordinate clause used as a noun.
That it boggles the mind is inevitable.
A sentence that has a noun clause is a complex sentence. The
entire sentence is considered the principal or independent
clause; the noun clause is the subordinate clause.
That it boggles the mind is inevitable. (Principal clause)
That it boggles the mind.
(Subordinate clause)
Uses of Noun Clauses
A noun clause has the same uses as nouns. It may be used as
subject of a verb, object of a verb, the predicate nominative, the
object of a preposition, or in apposition.
 Noun clause used as Subject
A noun clause may be used as the person, place or thing
about which a statement is being made.
That you may see the error of your ways is my fervent
wish.
 Noun clause used as Direct Object
A transitive verb passes the action from a doer to a
receiver. In the active voice, the doer is the subject and the
receiver is the object.
I doubt that you can do it.
 Noun clause used as Predicate Nominative
The predicate nominative follows a linking verb and
completes its meaning. In the following example, is is a
linking verb and the underlined phrase completes the action
by the verb; explains My wish.
My wish is that you may see the error of your ways.
 Noun clause used as Object of Preposition
A preposition shows the relationship between its object and
some other word in the sentence. Instead of using a noun in
this case, we use a noun clause as the object being related
to some other word in the sentence.
I was thinking about all that we have accomplished.
 Noun clause used in Apposition
An appositive is a word or a group of words that follows a
noun or a pronoun and gives additional information about
this noun/pronoun. In the following examples, the noun
clause in both sentences is used as appositives.
My wish, that you may see the error of your ways, is
heartfelt.
It is my wish that you may see the error of your ways.
Caution:
Do not confuse an appositive clause with an adjectival clause
introduced by that. When that introduces an adjectival clause, it
is a relative pronoun. When that introduces a noun clause, it is a
conjunction.
III.
SENTENCES
A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought.
I did not like her at first.
I began to see how she truly was.
I started to like her.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A SENTENCE
Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. The subject may
or may not be expressed but the predicate is always expressed.
 The Subject – is a part of the sentence which names a
person, a place or a thing about which a statement is made.
This is, in a nutshell, what is being discussed or spoken
about in the sentence. The subject with all its modifiers is
called the complete subject.
Children are gifts.
Good and behaved children are gifts from God.
Come here. (subject not expressed)
The Predicate – is that part of the sentence which tells us
something about the subject. The predicate with all its
modifiers and complements is called the complete
predicate.
Children are gifts.
Good and behaved children are gifts from God.
NATURAL AND TRANSPOSED ORDER IN SENTENCES
 Natural Order
Whenever the complete predicate follows the complete
subject, a sentence is in the natural order.
To be forgiven is such a sweet and liberating
experience.
Subject
Predicate
 Transposed Order
Whenever the complete predicate or part of the predicate is
placed before the subject, a sentence is in the transposed
order.
Up flew the birds.
Did you give her the book?
Subject
Predicate
COMPOUND ELEMENTS OF A SENTENCE
 Compound Subject
If the subject of the sentence consists of more than one
noun or pronoun, it is said to be a compound subject.
God’s grace and love are necessary to us.
 Compound Predicate
If the predicate consists of more than one verb, it is said to
be a compound predicate.
You were weighed, measured and found wanting.
CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES
Division according to Use
 A declarative sentence is a sentence that states a fact.
 An interrogative sentence is a sentence that asks a
question.
 An imperative sentence is a sentence that expresses a
command.
 An exclamatory sentence is a sentence that expresses
sudden or strong emotion.
Examples:
The bus driver was tired from working all day.
(declarative)
Will I be needed further? (interrogative)
Get here as quick as you can. (imperative)
Oh, how I was looking forward to meeting you!
(exclamatory)
Notes on punctuation:
Declarative and imperative sentences are followed by periods.
An interrogative sentence ends with a question mark. An
exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation point.
Division according to Form
 A simple sentence is a sentence containing one subject
and one predicate, either or both of which, may be
compound.
Mary and Joseph sheltered under a goat shed.
 A compound sentence is a sentence that contains two or
more independent clauses.

Mary and Joseph sheltered under a goat shed, and they
stayed there until Jesus was born.
Notes on punctuation of compound sentences:
1. The clauses of a compound sentence connected by the
simple conjunctions and, but, and or are generally
separated by a comma.
She was very late for her first class, but her teacher
understood her reasons and let her in still.
2. If the clauses are short and closely related, the comma may
be omitted.
The protesters surged toward the palace and the
policemen were helpless.
3. Sometimes, the clauses of a compound sentence have no
connecting word. The connection is then indicated by a
semicolon.
Stephanie and Peter were married immediately; it was
what they both wanted.
4. The semicolon is also used to separate the clauses of a
compound sentence connected by nevertheless, moreover,
therefore, however, thus, then because these words have
very little connective force. A comma is frequently used
after these words.
The doctor quickly performed emergency procedures as
soon as he arrived at the scene of the accident;
however, he was too late to save the victim.
 A complex sentence is a sentence that contains one
principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
The books, which were ordered last week, are finally
arriving today.
IV.
PUNCTUATION
Punctuations help make the meaning of written statements
clear.
THE PERIOD
Use a period:
1. At the end of a declarative statement or an imperative
sentence.
2. After an abbreviation or initial.
Dr. Mandy T. Gregory
THE COMMA
Use a comma:
1. To separate words or group of words in a series.
Please choose between coffee, tea, lemonade, or fruit
juice.
2. To set off a short direct quotation and the parts of a divided
quotation, unless a question mark or an exclamation point is
required.
“Please choose between coffee, tea, lemonade or fruit
juice,” offered the stewardess.
“I hope they’ll be comfortable,” prayed the host, “and
may long they like staying here.”
3. To separate independent elements and words of direct
address.
Yes, I think so. Mother, I am sick.
4. To set off the parts of dates, addresses, or geographical
names.
June 15, 2005
5. To separate nonrestrictive phrases and clauses from the
rest of the sentence.
The youth, who are supposedly the hope of the
motherland, couldn’t care less.
6. After long introductory phrases and clauses and when
needed to make meaning clear.
While you were waiting at the airport entrance, I was
waiting at the tarmac.
7. To set off an appositive that is not part of the name or that is
not restrictive.
It is my wish, that you may see the error of your ways.
8. To set off a parenthetical expression; that is, a word or a
group of words inserted in the sentence as a comment or an
exclamatory remark, and one that is not necessary to the
thought of the sentence.
The nurses, as well as the doctor, are confident about
the patient’s full recovery.
9. To separate the clauses of a compound sentence
connected by the conjunctions and, but, or, nor, yet. If the
clauses are short and closely related, the comma may be
omitted.
I honored my word, but you didn’t honor yours.
10. After the salutation in a social letter and after the
complimentary close in all letters.
Dear Don,
Yours truly,
THE SEMICOLON
Use a semicolon:
1. To separate the clauses of a compound sentence when
they are not separated by a coordinate conjunction.
I honored my word; you didn’t honor yours.
2. To separate the clauses of a compound sentence, which
are connected by nevertheless, moreover, however,
therefore, then, or thus, since these words have very little
connective force.
She got consistently good grades; thus, she graduates
cum laude today.
3. Before as and namely when these words introduce an
example or an illustration.
I have been to the most romantic city in Europe;
namely, Paris.
THE COLON
Use a colon:
1. After the salutation of a business letter.
Dear Sir:
2. Before a list or enumeration of items.
Here is a list of government agencies: DOLE, DTI…
3. Before a long direct quotation.
John Locke in his Second Treatise of Government said:
"The State of Nature has a Law of Nature to govern it,
which obliges everyone : And Reason, which is that
Law, teaches all Mankind who will but consult it, that
being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm
another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions."
THE EXCLAMATION POINT
Use an exclamation point:
1. After an exclamatory sentence.
I can’ t believe it! You’re really here!
2. After an exclamatory word, phrase , or clause.
Wow! What a game! That was great!
THE QUESTION MARK
Use a question mark:
1. At the end of every question.
Are there any questions?
QUOTATION MARKS
Use quotation marks:
1. Before and after every direct quotation and every part of a
divided quotation. For quotations within a quotation, use
single quotation marks.
“Locke has described the State of Nature much as
Hobbes had, but then he adds ‘something different,’ or
so Montague believes,” said the professor.
2. To enclose titles of stories, poems, magazines, newspaper
articles, and works of art. The usual practice for titles of
books, magazines and newspapers is italicization.
“Ode to my Family”
3. Periods and commas belong inside quotations. Colons and
semicolons are written after quotation marks.
Gloria said, “I didn’t reckon on your being here so early
in the morning.” “I didn’t know you were coming,” Gloria
remarked.
THE APOSTROPHE
Use an apostrophe:
1. To show possession.
My sister’s shoes are hard to fill.
2. With s to show the plural of letters, numbers, and signs.
How many a’s are there in this sentence?
3. To show the omission of a letter, letters or numbers.
The 25th of February in ’95
We’ll
THE HYPHEN
Use a hyphen:
1. To divide a word at the end of a line wherever one or more
syllables are carried to the next line.
2. In compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.
I have thirty-three baskets already.
3. To separate the parts of some compound words.
My brother-in-law and my father-in-law are coming to
visit tomorrow morning.
THE DASH
Use a dash:
1. To indicate a sudden change of thought.
He is still at the school—an unusual thing for him.
CAPITAL LETTERS
Capitalize the first letter of the following:
1. The first word in a sentence.
2. The first word of every line of poetry (not very strict due to
poetic license).
3. The first word of a direct quotation.
4. Proper nouns and proper adjectives.
5. Titles of honor and respect when preceding the name.
6. North, south, east, and west when they refer to sections of a
country.
7. All names referring to God, the Bible, or parts of the Bible.
8. The principal words in the titles of books, plays, poems and
pictures.
9. The pronoun I and the interjection O.
10. Abbreviations when capitals would be used if the words
were written in full.
Do not capitalize:
1. The seasons of the year.
2. The articles a, an, the, conjunctions, or prepositions in titles,
unless one of these is the first word.
3. The names of subjects, unless they are derived from proper
nouns.
4. The words high school, college, and university, unless they
are parts of the names of particular institutions.
5. Abbreviations for the time of day. (a.m./p.m.)
V.
BADLY CONSTRUCTED SENTENCES
The following are common mistakes in sentence construction:
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
It is a basic rule in grammar that every sentence must contain at
least one independent clause. A misplaced period may cut off a
piece of the sentence, thereby resulting in a sentence that does
not contain an independent clause. In the following example,
the second sentence is a fragment due to a misplaced period.
The committee met early to discuss the barangay
budget allocation. Which is a complicated matter.
Common Types of Sentence Fragments
 Fragment appositive phrase
A major social problem is the number of undesirable people
coming into the state. Professional gamblers and crooks, men
who would do anything to make money.
Corrected: A major social problem is the number of undesirable
people coming into the state— professional gamblers and
crooks, men who would do anything to make money.
 Fragment prepositional phrase
I had expected to find the laboratory neat and orderly, but
actually it was very sloppy. With instruments on every available
space and pieces of electronic equipment lying around the floor.
Corrected: I had expected to find the laboratory neat and
orderly, but actually it was very sloppy. Instruments were on
every available space and pieces of electronic equipment were
lying around the floor.
 Fragment dependent clause
A group of ants is busy looking for food and ferrying them back
and forth. While another group of ants was busy protecting the
colony.
Corrected: A group of ants is busy looking for food and ferrying
them back and forth, while another group of ants was busy
protecting the colony.
 Fragment participial phrase
I was amazed at how alive the city was. Everywhere there were
vendors, hawking their unique and varied wares. Calling the
attention of shoppers and nudging them in the hope that they’ll
be attracted enough to buy.
Corrected: I was amazed at how alive the city was. Everywhere
there were vendors hawking their unique and varied wares,
calling the attention of shoppers, and nudging them in the hope
that they’ll be attracted enough to buy.
 Fragment Infinitive Phrase
To get rich the best way how. That is the aim of every
businessman I have met, and I doubt if I’ll meet one with a
different goal.
Corrected: To get rich the best way how is the aim of every
businessman I have met, and I doubt if I’ll meet one with a
different goal.
Permissible Incomplete Sentences
Certain elliptical expressions stand as sentences because their
meanings are readily understood, especially in a conversation
context.
1. Questions and answers to questions especially in
conversations.
Why not? Because it’s late.
2. Exclamations and requests
Yes!
This way, please.
3. Transitions
So much for that.
Now to go to the other issue.
There’s also the case of descriptive or narrative prose where
fragments are deliberately used for effect.
The clock ticked and tocked. Tick and tock. Tick and
tock.
RUN-TOGETHER SENTENCES
This error is also known as the comma splice. This mistake is
produced by a misplaced comma. Particularly, it is the use of a
comma to connect two independent clauses not conjoined by
coordinating conjunctions.
Give me liberty, give me death.
Three Ways of Correcting Run-Together Sentences
 Use a semicolon between the two independent clauses
Give me liberty; give me death.
 Use a period between the clauses and make them two
sentences instead.
Give me liberty. Give me death.
 Insert a coordinating conjunction between the two clauses
Give me liberty or give me death.
VI.
COMMON MISTAKES IN SENTENCE
CONSTRUCTION
SENTENCE UNITY
A sentence is unified if the various ideas it contains all
contribute to making one total statement and if the unifying idea,
which ties the various parts together, is made clear to the
reader. Faults in sentence unity include inclusion of irrelevant
ideas, excessive detail, illogical coordination and faulty
subordination.
Irrelevant Ideas
These are ideas that do not help and contribute to the sentence.
Totchelyn got into a fight and when a person gets into a fight, he
or she is probably going to be agitated after and this does not
contribute to overall feeling of well-being.
Problem: Who or what is the topic of the sentence, Totchelyn or
well-being?
Problematic Statements: A student, whether he or she goes to
the University of the Philippines, a premier university in the
country which is patterned after Harvard which is a premier
college abroad, or any other college or university in the land,
should be thankful for the educational opportunity.
Improved: A student, whether he or she goes to a premier
university like the University of the Philippines or to any other
college or university, should be thankful for the educational
opportunity.
Meeting you has made all the difference for I have never loved
nor will love any other man than you, and love means not
having to say you’re sorry.
Problem: This sentence is about expressing the speaker’s joy in
finding her true love. The definition of love in the end is very
irrelevant. Leave it out or make it another sentence.
Seeming lack of unity: Radio stars have to practice hard to
develop pleasant speaking voices; it is very important that they
acquire a sense of timing so programs will begin and end
promptly.
Improved: Radio stars have to practice hard to develop
pleasant speaking voices and to improve their sense of timing
so that programs will begin and end promptly.
Faulty sentence break: Hobbes believed men are naturally
equal. He believed they had the same liberties and rights, and
moreover he thought men in that state are miserable.
Improved: Hobbes believed men are naturally equal, that they
had the same liberties and rights. Moreover, he thought men in
that state are miserable.
Excessive Detail
If the sentence contains too many ideas, none of them will stand
out and the sentence will seem overcrowded and pointless.
Overcrowded sentence: When Rizal and the rest of the
ilustrados agitated for equal rights for the Filipinos, other
Filipinos heard and took these protests as reason to go up in the
mountains and fight a guerilla war with the Spaniards where
they lost most of the time yet proved that they would not sit back
and let foreigners take over their own country.
Improved: When Rizal and the rest of the ilustrados agitated for
equal rights for Filipinos, other Filipinos heard. These Filipinos
took the ilustrados’ protests as a reason to go up in the
mountains and fight a guerilla war with the Spaniards. They lost
most of the time, indeed, but they proved that they would not sit
back and let foreigners take over their own country.
Just because two ideas are related, and thus naturally follow
each other; that doesn’t mean they belong to one sentence.
Lack of sentence unity: I will give you a grand tour of the
campus after I got my things unloaded at the desk and I hope
you will enjoy it here.
Improved: I will give you a grand tour of the campus after I got
my things unloaded at the desk. I hope you will enjoy it here.
SUBORDINATION
To make main points stand out clearly, less important points must
be made less conspicuous. Main ideas should be expressed in
independent clauses, which are the backbone of any sentence.
Minor descriptive details, qualifications, and incidental remarks
should be put into subordinate constructions—dependent
clauses, appositives, or modifying phrases.
Primer sentences
A series of short independent sentences may produce the jerky
primer style of elementary students. A disadvantage of such
writing is that there seems to be no sentence that is more
important than the rest. Primer sentences should be unified into
longer sentences, with less important ideas subordinated.
Primer Sentences:
1. Look at how she dances. She shows harmony and grace.
She is dancing to a jazz piece. She is beautiful to watch.
2. I gave everything to that cause. I gave all my strength. I
gave all my time. I gave all my interest. Look where it
brought me.
Improved Sentences:
1. Look at how she dances to the jazz piece, showing such
harmony and grace and is such a beauty to watch.
2. I gave everything—my strength, my time, and my interest—
to that cause, but look where it brought me.
Illogical Coordination
When sentence elements are joined by and or another
coordinating conjunction, the implication is that the elements are
of equal weight and importance. If that is not really the case,
one of them should be subordinated.
Illogically coordinated sentences:
1. A large sugar plant was built allegedly to supply the whole
country with its sugar needs and is now operational.
2. You should get and shred a piece of ribbon and a size no
greater than 0.5 centimeters.
3. I got a free afternoon, and I thought about what I’d like to
do, and I decided to clean the house, but my friend Sheila
arrived, and we went to the mall instead.
Improved Sentences:
1. A large sugar plant, built allegedly to supply the whole
country with its sugar needs, is now operational.
2. You should get and shred a piece or ribbon to a size no
greater than 0.5 centimeters.
3. When I got a free afternoon, I thought about what I’d like to
do and decided to clean the house. However, my friend
Shiela arrived so she and I went to the mall instead.
Faulty Subordination
When the main idea of the sentence is placed in a subordinate
construction, the resulting upside-down subordination makes
the sentence weak. The context, of course, determines which
ideas are relatively more, and which are relatively less
important.
Faulty Subordination:
1. I was mooning around when my classmate called my name
which caused me to trip.
2. The movie had an opening scene which people thought was
irrelevant and unnecessarily gory.
Improved sentences:
1. While I was mooning around, my classmate called my name
and caused me to trip.
2. People thought the opening scene of the movie was
irrelevant and unnecessarily gory.
PARALLELISM
Parallel thoughts should be expressed in parallel grammatical
form. For example, an infinitive should be paralleled by an
infinitive, not by a participle; a subordinate clause by another
subordinate clause, not by a phrase. Parallel method is one way
of showing readers the relation between your ideas.
Coordinate Constructions
The coordinating conjunctions (like and, or, but, and nor) are
sure signs of compound construction. Any sentence element
which can be joined by a coordinating conjunction should be
parallel in construction.
Sentences that are not parallel:
1. Among the responsibilities of a UP student are studying
hard and to serve the country.
2. I would like to discuss and focusing on the issues at hand.
3. Every child is taught to work with the team and that good
sportsmanship must be shown.
Sentences that are parallel:
1. Among the responsibilities of a UP student are studying
hard and serving the country.
2. I would like to discuss and focus on the issues at hand.
3. Every child is taught to work with the team and to show
good sportsmanship.
Elements in Series
Sentence elements in series (x, y, and z) should express
parallel ideas and be parallel in grammatical form.
Faulty Parallelism:
1. She is young, well educated, and has an aggressive
manner.
2. I was weighed, has been measured, and was found
wanting.
3. He was tall, dark, and wore a black coat.
Improved Parallelism:
1. She is young, well educated, and aggressive.
2. I was weighed, measured, and found wanting.
3. He was tall, dark, and black-coated. (Or, “He was tall and
dark, and he wore a black coat.”)
Repetition of Prepositions and Other Introductory Words:
In order to make a parallelism clear, it is often necessary to
repeat a preposition, an article, a relative pronoun, a
subordinating conjunction, an auxiliary verb, or the sign of the
infinitive.
Obscure Parallelisms:
1. The lady must decide who among the suitors she likes best
and not waste time informing them of her decision.
2. The cashier told him that his account has not been cleared
yet and he must do so first before he can claim benefits.
3. The area was littered by plastic bottles and candy wrappers,
and the tourists who produced all the garbage.
Clear Parallelism:
1. The lady must decide who among the suitors she likes best
and must not waste time informing them of her decision.
2. The cashier told him that his account has not been cleared
yet and that he must do so first before he can claim
benefits.
3. The area was littered by plastic bottles and candy wrappers,
and by tourists who produced all the garbage.
Note: It is not necessary to repeat the connective word when
the parallel elements are short and stand close together.
Correlatives
Correlative conjunctions like either…or, neither…nor, not
only…but also should be followed by parallel sentence
elements.
Undesirables:
1. He is not only discourteous to the students but also to the
teacher. (Not only is followed by an adjective with a
prepositional phrase modifying it; but also is followed by a
prepositional phrase.)
2. He either was a magnificent liar or a remarkably naïve
young man. (Either is followed by a verb and its noun
complement; or is followed by a noun and its modifying
adjectives.
Improved:
1. He is discourteous not only to the students but also to the
teacher. (The correlatives are each followed by a
prepositional phrase now)
2. He was either a magnificent liar or a remarkably naïve
young man. (Each correlative is followed by a noun
complement of the verb)
And Which Clauses
Avoid joining a relative clause to its principal clause by and or
but. An undesirable and which construction can be corrected
three ways:
1. by omitting the coordinating conjunction,
2. changing the relative clause to a principal clause, or
3. inserting a relative clause before the conjunction.
Undesirables:
1. We were fooling around on our way to the canteen when we
were shushed by the Dean and who had a disagreeable
disposition.
2. The witness appeared at the hearing with a long written
statement, but which he was not allowed to read.
Improved:
1. We were fooling around on our way to the canteen when we
were shushed by the Dean who had a disagreeable
disposition.
2. We were fooling around on our way to the canteen when we
met the Dean who had a disagreeable disposition and who
shushed us.
3. The witness appeared at the hearing with a long written
statement, but he was not allowed to read it.
FAULTY REFERENCE OF PRONOUNS
The antecedent of every pronoun should be immediately clear
to the reader. Faulty reference of pronouns is particularly hard
to detect in a first draft.
Ambiguous Reference
Do not use a pronoun in such away that it might refer to either of
the two antecedents. Do not practice explaining the pronoun by
repeating of antecedent in parentheses.
Undesirable:
1. Dona met Michelle when she was on the way to school (To
whom is she referring to, Dona or Michelle?)
2. Dona met Michelle when she (Michelle) was on the way to
school.
Improved:
1. Dona, on her way to school, met Michelle.
Reference to Remote Antecedent
A pronoun need not be in the same sentence as its antecedent,
but the antecedent should not be so remote as to cause
possible misreading. If a considerable amount of material
stands between the antecedent and the pronoun, repeat the
antecedent.
Undesirable:
Cindy lacked enough money to buy the beautiful dress that was
made of silk, gorgeously cut, and very expensive. Dozens of
other dresses were in the store as well but they were no
competition to the dream dress that she wanted.
Improved:
…but they were no competition to the dream dress that Cindy
wanted.
Reference to Implied Antecedent
Do not use a pronoun to refer to a noun which is not expressed
but has to be inferred from another noun.
Antecedent implied: I once knew a very old violinist who
repaired them very expertly.
Improved: I once knew an old violinist who repaired violins very
expertly.
Reference to Inconspicuous Antecedent
Do not use a pronoun to refer to a noun in a subordinate
construction where it may be overlooked by the reader. A noun
that is used as an adjective is likely to be too inconspicuous to
serve as an antecedent.
Inconspicuous antecedent: Adobe brick was used in the wall,
which is a Spanish word for sun-dried clay.
Improved: The bricks in the wall were made of adobe, which is a
Spanish word for sun-dried clay.
Broad Reference
Using a relative or demonstrative pronoun (which, that, this) to
refer to the whole idea of a preceding clause, phrase or
sentence is acceptable if the sense and if a change would be
awkward and wordy.
Acceptable broad reference: At first glance, the desert seems
completely barren of animal life, but this is a delusion.
Undesirable: The battle of Thermopylae was the battle where
Spartans fought the Persians and where every Spartan who
fought was killed, the account of which can be found in many
books.
Improved: The battle of Thermopylae was the battle where
Spartans fought the Persians and where every Spartan who
fought was killed. The account of this battle is told in many
books.
Ambiguous: The beginning of the book is more interesting than
the conclusion, which is very unfortunate.
Improved: Unfortunately, the beginning of the book is more
interesting than the conclusion.
Awkward: In the eighteenth century more and more land was
converted into pasture, which had been going on to some extent
for several centuries.
Improved: In the eighteenth century, more and more land was
converted into pasture, a process which had been going on to
some extent for several years.
Personal Pronouns Used Indefinitely
Although the indefinite you is suitable in informal writing, it is
generally out of place in formal compositions. Instead, use the
impersonal pronoun one, or put the verb in the passive voice.
Informal: You should not take sedatives without a doctor’s
prescription.
Formal: One should not take sedatives without a doctor’s
prescription.
Formal or Informal: Sedatives should not be taken without a
doctor’s prescription. The indefinite use of they is always vague
and usually sounds childish and naïve.
Undesirable: Thirty years ago, there was no such thing as an
atomic bomb; in fact, they did not even know how to split the
atom.
Improved: …in fact, scientists did not even know how to split the
atom.
The indefinite it is correctly used in impersonal expressions (e.g.
it is raining, it is hot) or in sentences where it anticipates the real
subject (e.g. It seems best to go at once) Colloquial use like “It
says here that…” should not be used in writing.
Undesirable: It says in the paper that they are having severe
storms in the West.
Improved: The paper says there are severe storms in the West.
Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives
The pronouns this, that these, those are frequently used as
adjectives, to modify nouns. Using one of these words as a
modifier, without an expressed or clearly implied antecedent, is
a colloquialism which should be avoided in serious writing.
Acceptable: After struggling through the poetry assignment, I
decided that I would never read one of those poems again.
Colloquial: It was just one of those things.
Colloquial: The building was one of those rambling old
mansions.
Improved: The building was one of those rambling old mansions
that are found in every New England town.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
A modifier is a dangling modifier when there is no word in the
sentence for it to modify. In the sentence “Swimming out into the
lake, the water felt cold,” the writer took it for granted that the
reader would assume somebody was swimming. In fact, the
only noun in the sentence is water and the participial phrase
Swimming out into the lake could not logically be modifying it;
the water could not be swimming. Thus, this participial phrase is
a dangling modifier.
A Dangling modifier can be remedied in two ways:
1. By supplying the noun or pronoun that the phrase logically
modifies
Swimming out into the cold, I felt that the water was
cold.
2. By changing the dangling modifier into a complete clause
(one which has a subject and predicate)
As I swam out into the lake, the water felt colder.
Dangling Participles, Gerunds and Infinitives
Dangling participial phrase: Strolling around the park one day, a
baby suddenly cried. (Who was strolling)
Improved: As I was strolling around the park one day, a baby
suddenly cried.
Dangling Gerund Phrase: For opening the door to let her in, the
beautiful lady gave me a radiant smile. (Who opened the door?)
Improved: The beautiful lady gave me a radiant smile after I had
opened the door for her.
Dangling infinitive phrase: To pass the difficult entrance
examination, all possible topics must be covered in the review.
Improved: To pass the difficult entrance examination, a student
must cover all possible topics in the review.
Dangling Elliptical Clauses
Subject and main verb are sometimes omitted from a dependent
clause. These clauses are called elliptical clauses:
Instead of while he was going, while going is used.
Instead of when he was a boy, when a boy is used.
If the subject of the elliptical clause is not mentioned in the rest
of the sentence, it may become a dangling elliptical clause.
Dangling: When six years old, my favorite pet dog died.
Improved: When I was six years old, my favorite pet dog died.
Permissible Introductory Expressions
Some verbal phrases, like generally speaking, taking all things
into consideration, judging from past experience have become
stock introductory expressions and need not be attached to any
particular noun. Similarly, verbals expressing a generalized
process, like in swimming, in cooking, are often used without
being attached to a particular noun.
Acceptable:
Generally speaking, males die younger than females.
Taking all things into consideration, the decision was just
and as it should be.
Judging from past experience, UP graduates get hired
much faster than others.
In swimming, relaxation is essential.
In cooking, the quality of the ingredients is important.
MISPLACED SENTENCE ELEMENTS
The normal sentence order in English is subject, verb, and
complement, with modifiers either before or after the word being
modified. This permits certain flexibility in the placing of
subordinate clauses, but the following must be observed:
1. Place modifiers as close as possible to the words they
modify
2. Do not needlessly split a grammatical construction by the
insertion of another sentence element.
Misplaced clauses and phrases
Some subordinate clauses and modifying phrases can be
moved around to various positions in the sentence without
affecting its meaning. For example, an introductory adverbial
clause can sometimes be shifted from the beginning to the
middle or the end of the sentence.
Whatever other people may say, I still believe that faith is a
matter best left to the individual’s discretion.
I still believe, whatever other people may say, that faith is a
matter best left to the individual’s discretion.
I still believe that faith is a matter best left to the individual’s
discretion, whatever other people may say.
This freedom, however, has its dangers. Modifiers may be
placed so as to produce ridiculous misreading or real
ambiguities.
Split infinitives are a result of inserting a word or a group of
words between the to and the verb form. This may be awkward,
especially if the modifier is long.
Misplaced modifier: Like many artists of the period, Carey lost
the opportunity to make large profits on his paintings through
the work of imitators and plagiarists.
Corrected: Like many artists of the period, Carey lost, through
the work of imitators and plagiarists, the opportunity to make
large profits on his paintings.
Awkward: I should like to, if the Lord blesses me with such
grace, tour the world.
Improved: I should like to tour the world, if the Lord blesses me
with such grace.
Misplaced Modifier: The ramp model wore a grey cardigan over
one shoulder which looked fuzzy and warm.
Corrected: The ramp model wore over one shoulder, a grey
cardigan which looked fuzzy and warm.
Acceptable: To never gain back my honor would be a great
burden.
Acceptable: The company is hoping to more than double its
assets next year.
Misplaced Adverbs
Theoretically, limiting adverbs like only, almost, never, seldom,
even, hardly, nearly should be placed immediately before the
words they modify.
Gino only tried to express his thanks.
Gino and I fought only once.
Formal: She gave you that food only to make up for yesterday’s
fiasco.
Informal: She only gave you that food to make up for
yesterday’s fiasco.
Acceptable: He seldom seems to smile.
Acceptable: The migratory bird hardly appeared to be breathing.
UNNECESSARY SHIFTS
Structural consistency makes a sentence easier to read. If the
first clause of a sentence is in the active voice, do not shift to
the passive voice in the second clause unless there is some
reason for the change. Similarly, avoid needless shifts in tense,
mode, or person within a sentence.
Shifts of Voice or Subject
Shifting from the active to the passive voice almost always
involves a change in subject; thus, an unnecessary shift in voice
may make a sentence doubly awkward.
Awkward: What would foreigners think of us if they only got their
impression of the Philippines from Claire Danes’ maligning
tongue?
Improved: What would foreigners think of us if they got their
impression of the Philippines only from Claire Danes’ maligning
tongue?
Ambiguous: I nearly ate all of it, leaving you with nothing.
Improved: I ate nearly all of it, leaving you with nothing.
Squinting Modifiers
Avoid placing a modifier in such a position that it may refer to
either a preceding or a following word.
Ambiguous: The person who steals in nine cases out of ten is
driven to do so by want.
Improved: In nine cases out of ten, the person who steals is
driven to do so by want.
Ambiguous: Since a canoe cannot stand hard knocks when not
in use it should be kept out of the water.
Improved: Since a canoe cannot stand hard knocks, it should be
kept out of the water when not in use.
Awkward Split Constructions; Split Infinitives
Any needless splitting of a grammatical construction by the
insertion of a modifier may affect the meaning of the sentence.
Awkward: The author made the horses, animals that we
consider only fit for hard and brute labor, portray an ideal
society.
Improved: The author portrays an ideal society by means of
horses, animals that we consider only fit for hard and brute
labor.
In some cases, infinitives are split by adverbs. This type of splitinfinitives is usually acceptable.
Shift in subject and voice: When I finally found the trouble in an
unsoldered wire, the dismantling of the motor was begun at
once.
Improved: When I finally found the trouble in an unsoldered
wire, I began at once to dismantle the motor.
Shift in voice: The new cellphone model is so innovative that it is
wanted so badly by my friend.
Improved: The new cellphone model is so innovative that my
friend wants it so badly.
Shift in subject: The children have played almost all the games
there are, but games of hide and seek are their favorite.
Improved: The children have played almost all the games there
are, but they like hide and seek best.
Shifts of Tense
Do not change the tense unless there is reason to do so.
Shift of tense: The family was usually quarreled over money
matters, and when this new problem arises, the family is broken
up.
Improved: The family was usually quarreled over money
matters, and when this new problem arose, the family was
broken up.
Shifts of Mode
For example, If you begin a sentence with an imperative
command (imperative mode), do not shift without reason to a
statement (indicative mode).
Shift of mode: Jump to the left; then you should jump to the
right. (the first clause is a command, the second clause is a
statement giving advice)
Improved: Jump to the left; then jump to the right.
Improved: After jumping to the left, you should jump to the right.
Shift of mode: If I were you, I would be very grateful and I will
thank him in any way I can. (Subjunctive, Indicative)
Improved: If I were you, I would be very grateful and I would
thank him in any way I can.
Shifts of Person
The most common shift in writing is from the third person to the
second person. This usually happens when the writer is talking
about no particular individual but of everyone in general.
Needless shift: A man must always think happy thoughts for you
can will happiness.
Improved: You must always think happy thoughts for you can
will happiness.
Improved: A man must always think happy thoughts for he can
will happiness.
INCOMPLETE CONSTRUCTIONS
Sentence constructions are incomplete if words and
expressions necessary for clarity are omitted.
Auxiliary Verbs
Do not omit auxiliary verbs that are necessary to complete a
grammatical construction. When the two parts of a compound
construction are in different tenses, it is usually necessary to
write the auxiliary verbs in full.
Incomplete: Due to a vehicular accident last year, he can no
longer walk and never walk again.
Improved: Due to a vehicular accident last year, he can no
longer walk and will never walk again.
Idiomatic prepositions
English idioms require that certain prepositions be used with
certain adjectives: we say for example “interested in”, “aware
of”, “devoted to”. Be sure to always include all necessary
idiomatic prepositions.
Incomplete: She is exceptionally interested and devoted to her
friends.
Improved: She is exceptionally interested in and devoted to her
friends.
Comparisons As and Than; One of the…if not the…
In comparisons, do not omit words necessary to make a
complete idiomatic statement. We say “as pretty as” and
“prettier than”.
Incomplete: Totchelyn is as pretty, if not prettier than Lolita.
Complete but Awkward: Totchelyn is as pretty as, if not prettier
than Lolita.
Improved: Totchelyn is as pretty as Lolita, if not prettier.
Incomplete: The September 11 bombing of the twin towers is
one of the worst, if not the worst, terrorist attacks in the world.
(two idioms: “one of the worst terrorist attacks” and the “worst
terrorist attack”)
Correct: The September 11 bombing of the twin towers is one of
the worst terrorist attacks, if not the worst terrorist attack, in the
world.
Incomplete Comparisons
Comparisons should be logical and unambiguous.
Illogical: Her energy level is lower than an old lady. (Is an old
lady low?)
Improved: Her energy level is lower than that of an old lady.
Improved: Her energy level is lower than an old lady’s.
Avoid comparisons which are ambiguous or vague because
they are incomplete. A comparison is ambiguous if it is too hard
to tell what is being compared with what. It is vague if the
standard of comparison is not stated.
Ambiguous Comparison: Alabang is farther from Sucat than
Makati.
Clear: Alabang is farther from Sucat than Makati is.
Vague comparison: The people have finally realized that it’s
cheaper to commute.
More Definite: The people have finally realized that it’s cheaper
to commute than to drive.
If it is clearly indicated by the context, the standard of
comparison need not be specified.
Acceptable: You are big, but I am bigger.
MIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
Do not begin a sentence with one construction and shift to
another to conclude the sentence. English is full of alternate
constructions and it is easy to confuse them. For example, here
are two ways of saying the same thing:
1. Fishing in Alaska is superior to that of any other region in
North America.
2. Alaska is superior to any other region in North America for
lake and stream fishing.
The first sentence compares fishing in two regions; the second
compares two regions in regard to fishing. Either sentence is
correct, but the combination of the first half of one with the
second half of the other produces confusion.
Mixed Construction: Fishing in Alaska is superior to that of any
other region in North America for lake and stream fishing.
Mixed construction: Often it wouldn’t be late in the evening
before my father got home.
Correct: Often it would be late in the evening before my father
got home.
Correct: Often my father wouldn’t get home until late in the
evening.
Many mixed constructions involve comparisons. For example:
Mixed Construction: The backyard mechanic will find plastic
much easier to work with than with metal.
Correct: The backyard mechanic will find plastic easier to work
with than metal.
Correct: The backyard mechanic will find it easier to work with
plastic than with metal.
Using a modifying phrase or clause as subject or complement of
a verb often produces a badly mixed construction.
Mixed Construction: Without a top gave the new car model a
very odd look.
Correct: Without a top, the new car model looked very odd.
Mixed Construction: Only one thing stops me from hurting you—
because you’re my sister. (the only thing requires a substantive
at the end, not because…)
Correct: Only one thing stops me from hurting you—the thought
that you’re my sister.
The “reason…is because” construction is still not accepted in
formal English.
Catchall phrases like and others, etc, and the like suggest that
the writer has run out of examples. Do not use them unless
there’s a good reason.
Mixed construction: The reason UP graduates perform so well in
the job market is because employers think that UP graduates
are competent.
Correct: UP graduates perform well in the job market because
employers think UP graduates are competent.
Weak: Some cities in the Philippines like Quezon City, Manila,
and the like, have populations that range over a million.
Improved: Some cities in the Philippines, like Quezon City and
Manila, have populations that range over a million.
WEAK AND UNEMPHATIC SENTENCES
Even though the sentence is technically correct, with its
elements properly subordinated to throw the stress on the most
important ideas, it may still lack force and impact. Weak
sentences are usually caused either by shaky structure or by
dilution with needless words and repetitions.
Sentences ending with prepositions are by no means incorrect.
A sentence with a preposition at the end is often more emphatic,
and more natural, than a sentence that has a preposition buried
within it.
Trailing Constructions
A sentence should not trail away in a tangle of dependent
clauses and subordinate elements. The end of a sentence is an
emphatic position. Put some important idea there. However, it is
not necessary to make all your sentences “periodic” – that is,
arranged so that the meaning is suspended until the very end of
the sentence. Periodic sentences may sound contrived and
formal:
It was Swift’s intention that mankind, despite its ability to
deceive itself, should be forced to look steadily and
without self-excuse at the inherent evil of human nature.
WORDY SENTENCES
Unnecessary words and repetitions dilute the strength of a piece
of writing. Be as concise as clarity and fullness of statement
permit. Note that conciseness is not the same as brevity. A
brief statement does not give detail; for example:
“I failed.”
A concise statement may give a good detail but it does not
waste words:
“Last month, I did not reach my sales quota.”
Being brief is not always a virtue. But it is always good to be
concise. In revision, look for unnecessary words in your
sentences. Look with suspicion at such
circumlocutions as “along the lines of”, of the nature of.” Avoid
redundant expressions like “green in color”, “in the
contemporary world of today”, “petite in size.”
Although such sentences are compact and forceful, too many of
them makes one’s writing sound stilted. On the other hand, the
following sentence is inexcusably weak:
A trip abroad would give me a knowledge of foreign
lands, thus making me a better citizen than when I left,
because I could better understand our foreign policy.
The participial construction “thus making me a better citizen” is
especially weak. Not only is it technically “dangling”, but it
seems like an afterthought, like it was just an add-on to the
sentence. Rearrangement and trimming could make it a better
sentence:
The knowledge gained on a trip abroad would help me
to understand our foreign policy and thus make me a
better citizen.
Trailing Construction: It is in this scene that Leo finally realizes
that he has been deceived by the promises of his sisters.
Improved: In this scene Leo finally realizes that he has been
deceived by the promises of his sisters.
Avoiding Anticlimax
When a sentence ends in a series of words varying in strength,
they should be placed in climactic order, the strongest last,
unless the writer intends to make an anticlimax for a humorous
effect.
Anticlimactic: The new sales manager proved himself to be
mercilessly cruel in discharging incompetents, stubborn and
impolite.
Improved: The new sales manager proved himself to be
impolite, stubborn, and mercilessly cruel in discharging
incompetents.
Stilted: This is the picture of the girl with whom I am in love.
Improved: This is the picture of the girl I am in love with.
Wordy and repetitious: If I should be required to serve a term
with the armed forces, I would prefer to enter the Air Force,
because I think I would like it better than any other branch of the
service, as I have always had a strong interest in and liking for
airplanes.
Improved: If I have to enter the armed forces, I would prefer the
Air Force, as I have always liked airplanes.
Wordy: I am happy to announce that I grant your request.
Improved: Yes.
VAGUE SENTENCES
If your sentences are to be clear, you must express your
meaning fully, in exact and definite language.
Gaps in Thought
Try to put yourself in the place of your reader and try to read
your sentence through his eyes. Would it be clear to someone
without prior knowledge of what you are trying to say? It may
be that because you wrote it and you know what you are trying
to say, you jump ahead and “short circuit” your sentence.
Not clear: Maturing faster because of parents’ divorcing does
not hold true in all cases. The child may be rendered timid and
insecure.
Gaps filled in: When his parents are divorced, the shock may
hasten the maturation of the child. But this does not always
happen; divorce may also retard maturation and make the child
timid and insecure.
Inexact Statement
Be exact in writing sentences. Make your meaning clear through
exact phrasing.
Inexact phrasing: Luxurious living results in expensive bills at
the end of the month. (bills are not expensive; luxurious living is)
Improved: Luxurious living brings high bills at the end of the
month.
Inexact phrasing: From my home are five high schools within a
five-minute driving radius from my home. (one can reach the
school in an automobile but not in a radius)
Improved: Five high schools lie within a five-minute driving
radius of my home.
DICTION AND VOCABULARY POINTERS
I.
DICTION
LEVELS OF USAGE
1. Standard English:
 Formal
Formal English is usually written and is used in scholarly
articles, official documents, formal letters, and any situation
calling for scrupulous propriety.
 Informal (General)
Informal or General English is the language, both written
and spoken, used by the educated classes in carrying on in
their everyday businesses. It is the level used in most
books, magazines, newspapers, and ordinary business
communications.
 Colloquial
Colloquial English is the language of familiar conversation
among educated people. It occurs frequently in informal
writing.
Formal
Informal
Colloquial
comprehend
understand
catch on
altercation
quarrel
row
wrathful, irate
angry
mad
goad, taunt
tease
needle
predicament
problem
jam, fix
exorbitant
high
steep
2. Substandard English
 Dialectical
Words common to a particular region and not used
throughout the country are part of the dialectical body of
words.
 Slang
These words are unconventional. They are vivid ways of
expressing an idea which has no standard equivalent.
Those that are widely used have a good chance of being
accepted as Standard English. After all, some words that
are considered as Standard now, like mob, banter, sham
and lynch belonged to the slang words before.
Ex: stooge, lame duck, shot of whisky, a bridge shark.
Most slang words however are too violent to get accepted,
and some are just a reflection of some people’s wish to be
different. They quickly lose any precise meaning. These
slang words have a poor chance of getting accepted in
Standard English.

Illiterate (or Vulgate) or Errors in Idiom
Idioms are peculiarities of language. Idioms require that
some words be followed by arbitrarily fixed prepositions.
Take in
Agree on
Take up
Agree with
Agree to
Angry at
Angry about
Argue for
Angry with
Argue against
Argue with
Argue about
Some idioms demand that certain words be followed by
infinitives, others by gerunds.
Infinitive
Gerund
able to go
capable of going
like to go
enjoy going
eager to go
cannot help going
hesitate to go privilege of going
Error in use of Idioms is unacceptable in Standard English.
EXACT DICTION
Choose words which say precisely what you mean. It is not
enough to make sure that you can be understood; you ought to
make sure that you cannot be misunderstood.
1. Choose specific words rather than general terms unless
there’s a good reason for being general.
General: For dinner we had some really good food.
Specific: For dinner we had steamed lobsters and
grilled tilapia.
2. Make your verbs work. Choose specific verbs or verbs that
signify the specific action, rather than colorless or abstract
verbs (e.g. occur, took place, prevail, exist).
Colorless verb: He beat a hasty exit.
Specific verb: He rushed from the room.
3. Do not use too explosive verbs or verbs that are too
explosive for their context.
Exaggerated: Her angry words pounced out upon him.
Specific verb: She scolded him.
4. Do not use the passive voice when unnecessary because
this leads to weak constructions. The passive voice is
appropriate when the doer of the action is irrelevant or
unknown.
5. Avoid jargon. People who are fond of jargon use them to
dress up words; they hope to sound more “authoritative”.
Certain key words betray the user fo jargon. He has an
unhealthy fondness for factor, case, basis, in terms of, in
the nature of, with reference to, elements, objective,
personnel.
Jargon: adverse climatic condition
Improved: bad weather
Jargon: Plant personnel are required to extinguish all
illuminating devices before vacating the premises.
Improved: Employees are asked to turn out all lights
before leaving the plant.
6. Choose words with the exact connotation required by the
context. In addition to their denotation or exact meaning,
words have a connotation or a fringe of associations and
overtones which make them appropriate in some situations
but not in others.
7.
Denotation
Connotation
a place of
suggests family life, warmth,
residence
comfort, affection
house
a place of
emphasizes physical structure
residence
domicile
a place of
has strictly legal overtones
residence
Inappropriate: “House, Sweet House”
“A hat to fit every skull”
EFFECTIVE DICTION
In addition to being exact, your diction must also be effective;
that is, you must make it easy and pleasant for a reader to
grasp what you are saying. Keep your diction natural and
sincere, be direct and concise, use fresh, unhackneyed
phrases, and avoid needless technical language.
Pretentious Language
Do not decorate your sentences with pretentious language;
doing so would make you seem insincere to your reader. Do not
think that originality is achieved by avoiding ordinary words.
Ordinary Word
Strained Circumlocution
spade
implement for agricultural excavation
dog
faithful canine friends
codfish
denizen of the deep
basketball player
casaba-heaver
hit the ball
smacked the horsehide
Do not also attempt to show your superiority by peppering your
constructions with needless foreign words.
Needless Foreign Phrase
English Equivalent
entre nous
between us
joie de vivre
enjoyment of life
faux pas
social blunder
sub rosa
secret or secretly
Sturm und Drang
storm and stress
Trite Rhetorical Expressions
Guard against using hackneyed and stale expressions in your
construction. Avoid clichés, hackneyed quotations, literary
allusions and proverbs.
Some hackneyed expressions:
slow but sure
speculation was rife
mother nature
easier said than done
Clichéd quotations:
all is not gold that glitters
make hay while the sun shines
Technical Language
When writing something aimed at a general audience, you
should avoid technical terms which are not commonly
understood, even though more words are required to say the
same thing in English.
Appropriate Figures of Speech
A figure of speech is a comparison, either stated or implied,
between two things which are unlike except in one particular.
Figures of speech are used to give color and vividness to
writing, and they should be fresh, reasonable, consistent, and
suited to the context in which they appear. When mixed, they
should also not be incongruous.
Incongruous mix:
home
This young attorney is rapidly gaining a foothold in the public
eye.
Awkward Repetitions
Do not needlessly repeat words or sounds.
Needless repetition: Probably the next problem we will
tackle is the problem of rising school tuition.
Improved: The next problem we will tackle is the rising
school tuition.
II.
VOCABULARY
KNOWING THE ROOTS
At least half of the words in the English language are derived
from Greek and Latin roots. Knowing these roots helps us to
grasp the meaning of words before we look them up in the
dictionary. It also helps us to see how words are often arranged
in families with similar characteristics.
For instance, we know that sophomores are students in their
second year of college or high school. What does it mean,
though, to be sophomoric? The "sopho" part of the word comes
from the same Greek root that gives us philosophy, which we
know means "love of knowledge." The "ic" ending is sometimes
added to adjectival words in English, but the "more" part of the
word comes from the same Greek root that gives us moron.
Thus sophomores are people who think they know a lot but
really don't know much about anything, and a sophomoric act is
typical of a "wise fool," a "smart-ass"!
Let's explore further. Going back to philosophy, we know the
"sophy" part is related to knowledge and the "phil" part is related
to love (because we know that Philadelphia is the City of
Brotherly Love and that a philodendron loves shady spots).
What, then, is philanthropy? "Phil" is still love, and "anthropy"
comes from the same Greek root that gives us anthropology,
which is the study ("logy," we know, means study of any kind) of
anthropos, humankind. So a philanthropist must be someone
who loves humans and does something about it—like giving
money to find a cure for cancer or to build a Writing Center for
the local community college. (And an anthropoid, while we're at
it, is an animal who walks like a human being.) Learning the
roots of our language can even be fun!
Some common Greek and Latin roots:
Root
Meaning
English words
(source)
aster, astr
star
astronomy, astrology
(G)
audi (L)
to hear
audible, auditorium
bene (L)
good, well
benefit, benevolent
bio (G)
life
biology, autobiography
dic,
to speak
dictionary, dictator
dict (L)
fer (L)
to carry
transfer, referral
fix (L)
to fasten
fix, suffix, affix
geo (G)
earth
geography, geology
graph (G)
to write
graphic, photography
jur,
just (L)
law
jury, justice
log, logue
(G)
word, thought,
monolog(ue), astrology,
luc (L)
speech
biology, neologism
manu (L)
meter,
metr (G)
light
hand
measure
lucid, translucent
manual, manuscript,
metric, thermometer
operation, operator
op, oper (L)
work
path (G)
feeling
ped (G)
child
pathetic, sympathy,
empathy
pediatrics, pedophile
phil (G)
love
philosophy, Anglophile
phys (G)
body,
nature
to write
physical, physics
far off
telephone,television
ter, terr (L)
earth
territory, extraterrestrial
vac (L)
empty
vacant, vacuum, evacuate
verb (L)
vid, vis (L)
word
to see
verbal, verbose
video, vision, television
scrib, script
(L)
tele (G)
scribble, manuscript
LEARNING PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
Knowing the Greek and Latin roots of several prefixes and
suffixes (beginning and endings attached to words) can also
help us determine the meaning of words. Ante, for instance,
means before, and if we connect bellum with belligerant to
figure out the connection with war, we'll know that antebellum
refers to the period before war. (In the United States, the
antebellum period is our history before the Civil War.)
Prefixes showing quantity
Meaning
Prefixes in English Words
half
semiannual, hemisphere
one
unicycle, monarchy, monorail
two
binary, bimonthly, dilemma, dichotomy
hundred
century, centimeter, hectoliter
thousand
millimeter, kilometer
Prefixes showing negation
Meaning
Prefixes in English Words
without, no, not
asexual, anonymous, illegal, immoral,
not, absence of,
invalid, irreverent, unskilled
opposing, against
nonbreakable, antacid, antipathy,
contradict
opposite to,
counterclockwise, counterweight
complement to
do the opposite of,
dehorn, devitalize, devalue
remove, reduce
do the opposite of,
disestablish, disarm
deprive of
wrongly, bad
misjudge, misdeed
Prefixes showing time
Meaning
Prefixes in English Words
Before
antecedent, forecast, precede,
prologue
After
postwar
Again
rewrite, redundant
Prefixes showing negation
Meaning
Prefixes in English Words
above, over
supervise, supererogatory
across, over
below, under
transport, translate
infrasonic, infrastructure,
subterranean, hypodermic
in front of
proceed, prefix
behind
recede
out of
erupt, explicit, ecstasy
into
injection, immerse, encourage,
empower
around
circumnavigate, perimeter
coexist, colloquy, communicate,
with
consequence, correspond, sympathy,
synchronize
Suffixes, on the other hand, modify the meaning of a word and
frequently determine its function within a sentence. Take the
noun nation, for example. With suffixes, the word becomes the
adjective national, the adverb nationally, and the verb
nationalize.
See what words you can come up with that use the following
suffixes.
 Typical noun suffixes are -ence, -ance, -or, -er, -ment, -list,
-ism, -ship, -ency, -sion, -tion, -ness, - hood, -dom
 Typical verb suffixes are -en, -ify, -ize, -ate
 Typical adjective suffixes are -able, -ible, -al, -tial, -tic, -ly,
-ful, -ous, -tive, -less, -ish, -ulent
 The adverb suffix is -ly (although not all words that end in ly are adverbs—like friendly)
READING COMPREHENSION POINTERS
Coherence, Unity, Analysis and Inference
I.
FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS
LITERARY DEVICES
 Simile – a figure of speech directly assessing a
resemblance in one or more points, of one thing to another.
It compares two things using the expressions like, as… as,
resembles, etc.
My patience is like traffic in EDSA—it is endless.
 Metaphor – a figure of speech that does say that something
is like something or resembles something. It pretends that
something is something.
She is a rock — rigid and immovable.
 Synecdoche – a figure of speech by which a part is put for
the whole or the whole for the part. A multitude of legs
crossed the freeway.
 Personification – a figure of speech by which inanimate
objects are bestowed with human traits. The heavens, cried
bitter and noisy tears, whispering and screaming in turns.
 Metonymy – a figure of speech by which an object is used
to represent another. Ladies and gentlemen, please lend
me your ears.
 Hyperbole – a figure of speech by which a strong effect is
achieved through an exaggeration and an overstatement.
His neck stretched out a mile so that he could see what
was going on.
II.
ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS
COHERENCE
I have only one word for you: coherence. Within a paragraph,
sentences should be arranged and tied together in such a way
that the reader can easily follow the train of thought. The
relationship between the sentences must be clear. It is not
enough that the reader knows what each sentence means. It’s
equally important that he sees its relationship to the sentence
that precedes it and to the one that follows it. It should also be
clear to him the direction and thought where all the sentences
are going.
To achieve such coherence, you must arrange the sentences
into some logical and recognizable order. The kind of
organization will depend on the kind of material which is to go
into the paragraph.
PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION
 Chronological Order (order of Time) - narration, process,
examples and illustrations, cause & effect.
Example:
next; later; the following Tuesday; afterwards; by noon;
when she had finally digested the giant burrito; as soon
as; in 1998
 Spatial Order - items are arranged according to their
physical position or relationships. description, examples &
illustrations.
Example:
just to the right; a little further on; to the south of
Memphis; a few feet behind; directly on the bridge of his
nose and a centimeter above his gaping, hairy nostrils;
turning left on the pathway
 Climactic Order (Order of Importance) - items are
arranged from least important to most important. examples
& illustrations, description, comparison & contrast, analogy.
o Psychological Order - This pattern or organization
grows from our learning that readers or listeners
usually give most attention to what comes at the
beginning and the end, and least attention to what is in
the middle.
Example:
more importantly; best of all; still worse; a more
effective approach; even more expensive; even more
painful than passing a kidney stone; the least wasteful;
occasionally, frequently, regularly
 Topical Order - classification & division, comparison &
contrast, analogy, definition, examples & illustrations.
Example:
the first element; another key part; a third common
principle of organization; Brent also objected to Stella's
breath
III.
IDENTIFYING AN IRRELEVANT SENTENCE
UNITY AND CONCISENESS
A construction must have unity; that is, its parts and elements
must be working together to clearly say something. It must also
be concise; that is, it says in as few words as possible, what is
needed to be said.
An irrelevant sentence is a sentence that does not contribute
anything to the main thought of the passage or selection. It
doesn’t help move the paragraph along to its conclusion. In
short, it is not necessary.
As a simple technique, look for the sentence among the
selection that does not cooperate with the rest of the sentence,
in terms of direction and support value.