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Grammar words
Clause
Clause elements
Phrases –
strings of
words
Main clause
- Alone as a complete sentence – main clause (helsetning/hovedsetninger)
- Can function as an independent, complete sentence that can make sense on their own.
- Contain verb phrase and usually subject
- Two or more main clauses can be joined together in a sentence by means of coordinating conjunction (and, or, bur, nor)
Dependent clause
- Cannot be alone – dependent clause (leddsetning)
- Need to be attached to a main clause
Subject (S)
- Noun phrase will function as subject.
Verbal (V)
- Look for the unit which expresses the action or the state of the subject in the clause.
Direct object (dO)
- Affected by the action
- Realized by a noun phrase and may also be realized by a dependent clause.
- Refer to something which is not so closely associated with the subject.
Indirect object (iO)
- Who benefits from or is indirectly affected by the action.
Subject predicative (sP)
- Description of the subject.
- Occurs with verbs be and become and verbs with similar meaning.
- Typically realized by an adjective, adjective phrase, a pronoun, a noun or a noun phr
- Always says something about what the subject is/ is like.
Object predicative (oP)
- Description of direct object.
- Typically realized by an adjective, adjective phrase, a pronoun, a noun or a noun phr
Adverbial (A)
- Time, place or manner
- Most common realization of an adverbial is a prepositional phrase. Example: Juliet
arrived at nine o’clock.
1. Adjuncts – answer questions such as when, where, how and why (time, place,
manner and reason)
2. Disjuncts – express the speakser’s or writer’s comment on something (maybe /
certainly/perhaps/probably)
- Express the speaker’s evaluation of the truth value of the clause.
- Also be expressed as modal auxiliaries.
3. Conjuncts – express links between clauses, sentences and paragraphs. (however,
secondly, thus, alternatively, furthermore, incidentally).
- Various stages: first, secondly, finally, to conclude)
- Helps understand logical links between clauses.
Consist of one or more words that form a unit
Can contain other phrases and/or clauses
Noun phrase
- Noun or a pronoun functions as the head of the phrase.
- Can contain determiners and modifiers that give further information about noun
- Example: book, you
- Indefinite noun phrase
- Noun phrase + determiner each and every are singular.
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Verb phrase
- Contains verb and may be preceded by one or more auxiliaries
- Refers to an action carried out by the subject
- Example: eat, eaten, eating,
- Can be finite (are marked for tense). Obligatory elements are (lexical verb and tense or
modality)
- Can be non-finite (infinitive, the –ing form (present participle) and past participle.
Adjective phrase
- Adjective function as the head of the phrase
- May be accompanied by one or more modifiers
- Example: happy, interesting
Lexical words Content words
– most central
words for the
meaning of
sentences.
Need to work
with function
word.
Nouns
Adverb phrase
- Adverb function as the head of the phrase
- Can contain modifiers
- Example: carefully
Preposition phrase
- Consist of preposition plus a complement, usually a noun/noun phrase
- Both elements are equally important and obligatory.
- Example: in, at, on, by
Noun
- Naming words for a thing, an idea, a person
- Common nouns (things, ideas)
- Proper nouns (people, places, institutions)
- Example: grandmother, house, iron, happiness, grammar, Tim and York
Verb
- describes an action or activity
- s in 3rd person singular, present tense
- ed is added in the past tense
- Example: be, have, go, walk, laugh and jump
- Linked verbs be and become
Adjective
- descriptive words – quality and characteristic of persons or things
- compared with –er, and –est, more/most
- occur with nouns
- endings are: -y, -ic, -ish, and –ous
- Example: old, happy, interesting, wonderful, yellow, blue
Adverb
- 1. Descriptive word (describe verbs, adjectives or other adverbs) (happily, well, very)
- 2. Serve as connecting words (however)
- 3. Refer to time, place, manner, degree (already/here)
- 4. Refer to viewpoint, truth or certainty (fortunately, surely and maybe)
- Compared with –er, and –est or more/most
- Some adverbs has ending – ly
Common nouns (woman, car, ice cream, music) - fellesnavn
- Written with lower case letters.
Countable nouns – shirt(s), pen(s), coin(s), car(s), book(s)
- Can be found in both singular and plural form.
- Some determiners can be used with countable nouns (a, an, these/those, many, more,
few, fewer)
Uncountable nouns – music, homework, snow, bread, coffee, money, furniture, water, news
- Refer to “mass of”
- Referred to as “it”, never as “they”
- Determiners used with uncountable nouns (much, little, less)
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Proper nouns (Clara, Manchester, Saturday, Christmas, Newsweek) - egennavn
- Names of somebody or something.
- Person, place, time, holiday, days of the weeks, monthes
- Has initial capital letter – occur without determiners and modifiers, don’t allow plural
form.
Compound nouns (sammensatte substantive)
- Composed of at least two parts (toothbrush)
- Says something about what type of thing the noun refers to. (compact disk, red wine,
wild animals, public transports, criminal court)
- Noun and another word (bestseller) (stand-in)
- 1. Separate words (grammar course, post office)
- 2. With a hyphen between the words (dry-cleaner’s, runner-up). Most commonly in
compounds containing words that are not nouns.
- 3. As one word (newspaper, toothbrush)
Singular and plural nouns
- Ends in –Y. – regular nouns = Ends in –(e)s, - ies (sky-skies)
- Ends in –F in singular = adds V and –es = (leaf=leaves)
- Ends –S is placed at the end.
- Irregular and regular nouns
- Same endings (sheep, deer, series, headquarters, aircraft, steelworks, barracks,
crossroads) – used in plural without extra –s
- Some nouns are only in plural: scissors, tongs, glasses, binoculars, stairs, steps, wages,
congratulations, thanks, manners, outskirts, surroundings.
Some nouns have plural form, but have singular meaning and grammar.
Physics
Linguistics
Politics
Measles
Mumps
Billiards
darts
Verbs
Collective nouns
- Refer to a group of people
- Family, team, crew, staff, committee.
- Can behave either as singular or plural nouns, depending on the meaning or use of the
nouns.
- Pronouns they and them are natural choice. But pronoun it can also be used.
- In American English they are likely to behave as singular with regard to the form of the
verb.
The Genitive
- Express possession, refer to period of time, measure or a type
- S’Genitiv - refers to the owner, and the following noun to the thing being own.
(determiner)
- Mother’s, parents’, hour’s, pound’s, women’s, Sweden’s,
- Consist of determiner plus a head noun
- Of-construction consists of a head noun plus a post modifier (the of-phrase)
- Singular nouns the genitive is formed by adding –s (The girl’s car)
- Plural nouns that end in –s, we add the apostrophe (‘) (The girls’ car)
Lexical verbs
- Refer to action, activities, states or relations
- Only syntactic function is head of a verb phrase
Compound verbs
- Example: Play down – influence each other. (Verb + particle (adverb/ preposition)
Auxiliaries
- Have no s-form (I must leave – he must leave)
- Have little or no meaning of their own
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Tense
Present tense
Past tense
-
The verb be in the present tense (am, are, is)
Also used about habits (The sun sets in the West)
-
Can be used make an utterance less direct, and hens more
polite.
Was, were
Future- referring
expression
Will – future
Present progressive
The future
progressive
-
Be going to
-
Be to
The simple present
tense
-
-
Future in the past
-
Verb phrase express additional meanings having to do with
degree of certainty and planning. (I am, we will)
Will/shell/ ‘ll
Most frequently used expression.
Shell – mostly used in questions.
Am/ is/ are
Refer to future actions that are planned.
Take place in the relatively near future.
When we want to talk about future actions and activities
without alluding (hentyde) to present plans and intentions.
Example: Tomorrow morning I’ll be flying to London
Can be used to ask indirect, polite questions about peoples
plans.
Used about future actions which the subject intends to carry
out.
Indicate that something is likely to happen.
Example: John said she was going to buy a new dress for the
party.
Used about future actions and events which have been
planned or determined by some other person than those
involved in it.
Example: We are to leave for England on the twenty-third.
Used about future events or actions that are fixed and
practically guaranteed to take place, typically about
schedules.
Example: Exam start on the tenth. We leave for England on
the twenty-third
Usually understood as future-referring only if there is an
appropriate time adverbial in the same clause.
Used a lot more frequently to refer to the future in
Norwegian than in English.
Contain a form of the auxiliary be – be going to, be to and
the progressive – can also be in the past tense.
Something happening after a point of reference in the past.
Example: They were going to get married two months later.
They would get married two months laer.
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Adjective
- Function as modifiers of noun and as predicative
- Refer to features, qualities and characterizations
- Modify nouns and pronouns
- Description of people and things
- Mark degrees
Comparative – More (more elegant)
Superlative - Most (most elegant)
- Fun, real, right, wrong (one syllable)
Endings –er, -est (bigger, biggest)
One syllable
Two syllables
Three or more
syllables
Irregular base form
Bad
Many/much
Little
Old
Far
Adverbs
Base form
small
real
Obscure
Careful
Happy
Gentle
Dangerous
Interesting
Comperative form
Worse
More
Less
Older
Further
Comperative
Smaller
More real
More obsecure
More careful
More happy
More gengle
More dangerous
More interesting
Superlative
Smallest
Most real
Most obsecure
Most careful
Happiest
Gentliest
Most dangerous
Most interesting
Superlative form
Worst
Most
Least
Oldest (elder-eldest)
Furthest (farther-farthest)
Classifying adjectives
- Adjective + noun = compound noun (says something about what type of thing the noun
refers to. (compact disk, public transport, wild animals)
Emphasizing adjectives
- Point out references of noun, or give special emphasis to the head noun.
- Example: I’m looking for a book by a certain Mr. Shakespeare.
I was pure luck that she got in.
Nominalized adjectives
- Head of a noun phrase – used with a)group of people b) abstract ideas
- They which refer to people (the rich, the homeless, the dead, the young, the elderly) –
have a plural meaning.
- They which refer to an abstract entity combine with singular verbals.
Nationally adjectives
- Norwegian American, British, English
- Function as adverbials and as modifiers of adjectives and adverbs.
- Modify the rest of the clause or the sentence.
- Many adverbs are formed by adding –ly to the adjective.
- -y ending of an adjective becomes –I in front of –ly
- Example: strong – strongly, full – fully, happy – happily, easy – easily
Manner adverbs
- Ly – ending (describe how something is done)
Other adverbs (refer in time, place and reason)
- Soon, still, always, just, now, then, already, sometimes, yesterday, later, not, never,
here, there, abroad, even, however, therefore
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Sometimes adjective and adverb can used in the same position, with different meaning
Adjective
Adverbs
The old man turned slow
The old man turned slowly
We found it (very) easy
We found it (very) easily
There was a pleasant, informal atmosphere
There was a pleasantly informal
atmosphere.
Function word
More of a
supporting
role
Pronouns
Auxiliaries (Verbs)
Determiners
Sentences
Pronouns
- Used instead of a noun
- He, she, yourself, they, anybody, that, who
- Functions as the head of the noun phrase.
- Same form as determiners. (some and any)
Determiners
- In front of a noun or noun phrase
- Identify the noun
- Followed by a noun
- Same form as pronouns (some and any)
- A, the (definiteness), my/your/ our (ownership), all, some, one, two, this/that (distance)
Prepositions
- Relationship in time and space
- At, in, of, on, outside, with
Conjunctions
- Coordinating –link together words, phrases or clauses (And, but, or, nor)
- Subordinating – link a dependent clause to another clause (when, because, since, that)
Auxiliaries (Verbs)
- In front of lexical verbs. Express tense, aspect (have, be, may, can, would)
- Have little or no meaning of their own
The infinitive marker to (infinitive marker)
- occur with infinitive form of a verb (to read, to sleep)
Existential there
- Something exists and is typically used to introduce new information.
- Used instead of noun (she, yours). Functions as head of noun.
- It and there
Grammatical auxiliaries (be, do, have)
- They can also function as lexical verbs
- Be, do and have  no meaning of their own. Part of grammatical construction.
Modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, would) Ch12
- They are finite form.
THE
- Definite article (definiteness, numbers, ownership and distance)
Complete sentences.
- Contains a main clause.
Simple sentences
- Consists of one main clause.
- Has only one set of subject and verbal
- Example: I lost my grammar book yesterday.
Compound sentences
- Least two main clauses, each containing a verbal, usually with an accompanying
subject.
- Example: I lost my grammar book, but I will try to manage anyway.
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Complex sentences
- One “main” set of subject and verbal (a main clause) and a dependent clause (with its
own set of subject and verbal)
- Example: I am very upset because my grammar book has been stolen. (underlined –
dependent clause)
Examples
NOUNS - Uncountable vs. Countable nouns
Uncountable meaning
Countable meaning
She sat down with pen and paper
She wrote three papers in one week
The decorations are made of paper.
I found the paper on the mat
George pays a lot of interest on his mortgage.
George has a wide range of interests.
The children love chicken. (meat)
Their children love chickens. (animals)
Is there life on other planets?
The action saved many lives.
Remember to buy tea and coffee.
The shop has a range of teas and coffes.
Irregular and regular nouns (singular and plural)
Singular nouns – regular
Plural nouns - regular
Sky
Skies
Penny
Pennies
Singular nouns – irregular
Plural nouns – irregular
Man
Men
Woman
Women
Child
Children
Sheep
Sheep
Leaf
Leaves
Crisis
Crises
Analysis
Analyses
Criterion
Criteria (criterions)
Formula
Formulae
Phenomenon
Phenomena (phenomenons)
Leaf
Leaves
People
People
Police
Police
Cattle
Cattle
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PRONOUNS
Personal
Demonstrative – clear reference.
Possessive
Indefinite pronouns
Third person singular.
- When used by subject –
followed by s-form of the
verb
Interrogative
Relative- similar to subordinating
conjunctions.
Reciprocal
Reflexive – ending in self or –selves
In Norwegian (seg/selv)
Types of pronouns
I/me, you, he/him, she/her, it,
we/us, you, they/them
This, that, these, those
Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours,
theirs
One, some, any, others, none,
somebody, something, someone,
anybody, anything, nothing
Have you read this?
Have you read this?
The job is hers.
There is nothing here for you.
What, who, whom, which
What did you say? Who is that
woman I saw you with?
Who, whom – refers to people
Which –things and phenomena
That – people or things
Each other, one another
Myself, yourself, himself, herself,
itself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves
This is the house that Jack built. This
is Jack, who built the house.
They kissed each other.
Maty was disappointed with herself.
IT and THERE (PRONOUN)
The most common mistake is to use it where there is required.
It
- It is her favorite poem – (referential pronoun) Referential pronoun (henvisning)
Example: You must hurry if you want to catch
- Refer to a thing of a fact that has been mentioned
the train. It leaves in ten minutes.
earlier in the text.
- It is hot in here – (empty it) – Example: It is
- Same way as we use he and she to human beings.
raining.
Empty it
- It is poetry she likes to read (it-cleft) –
- No doer for the action
Example: John broke the window  It was
- Use it as subject about temperature, time and
John who broke the window.
distance.
- It is a pity that you have to leave so early
- Does not refer to anything
(anticipatory it)  Example: It is good to see
It in cleft sentences
you (compare: to see you is good). They found
- Special emphasis to one of the elements
it difficult to believe that he had never done it
- Reorganize sentence into it-cleft
before.
- Use second sentence
It as anticipatory subject (aS)
- When subject is moved out of normal subject
position, it is used as a “place holder” in front of
the verbal – this place holder is called “anticipatory
it”
- Can function as anticipatory object.
- There
- Can be used as an adverb referring to place
- Example: There I met the King.
- Can be used as an anticipatory subject in sentences
about existence.
- Former type of there is called locative.
Existential there
- Always unstressed.
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DETERMINERS
Articles (definite, indefinite and
zero)
Demonstrative determiners and
pronouns indicate how far away
something is in space, time and
reality
Possessive determiners. Used to
indicate ownership. Also used with
clothes and body parts.
Quantifying determiners
Some
- pronouns involving some
and any – something,
somewhere
- Used in declarative
(fortellende) and positive
(bekreftende)sentences
Any
- pronouns involving some
and any – anyone, anybody
- Used in negative (nektende)
and interrogative
(spørrende) sentences
S-Genitive
Wh-determiners
Types of determiner
A, an, the
From this side of the house the lake
seemed very near.
From this side of the house the lake
seemed very near.
This, these (closeness)
that, those (distance)
My, our, your, his, her, its, their
Some, any,
-
-
all, every, each, no, enough,
either, neither, another,
many, few, a lot of, …two,
sex hundred
neither and nor behave like
either and or
Tom’s, Mary’s, the woman’s
What, which, whose, whatever,
whichever
She opened her bag.
Paul broke the arm
He kept his hands in the pockets of
his coat.
- There were no curtains.
- I would like some tea
- Somebody is waiting for you
- Is there any tea left?
- I don’t need any milk in it.
- Could you give me any
examples?
- Could you lend me any
money?
- Is there anything I should
know?
Paul’s shirt was torn.
Whose money did she steal?
Whichever way you look there was
nothing but water.
ARTICLES
Indefinite article – usually used in noun phrase that represents
new information: when something is introduced for the first time
in the text. Constantly used with singular, countable noun.
Definite article – reader/listener can identify what the head
noun refers to. The noun may be known or identifiable. Used in
English with names of musical instruments and with names of
certain public services.
Zero article - much the same meaning as indefinite article when
it is used with plural on uncountable nouns. It is used with
abstract uncountable noun with general reference, such as.
English use zero articles with nouns to referring to institutions.
Form
a / an
The
-
Examples
A sparrow, an owl, a theory, a writer,
a politician, a Norwegian, a fool, a
big nose, a taxi
The sparrow, the owl, the theory,
the guitar, the phone, the Internet,
the BBC
Sparrows, life, Jack, Earth, carrots,
sugar, love, death, nature, society
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Definite article
Definite article + countable noun in
singular = general kind of
references.
Nationality words that refer to
groups of people usually take the
definite article. General meaning.
Mountain ranges
Rivers
Countries
Groups of Islands
-
The Tiger is a dangerous animal. (all tiders, not a particular one)
We are studying the noun phrase. (noun phrase in general)
-
Again, the Japanese have been at the front (Japanes people in
general)
- Medicaid services are for the poor and needy. (everybody who is
poor and needy)
The alps, the Rocky Mountains, the Pennines
The Thames, the Missoury
The Netherland, the United States, the United Kingdom
The Philippines, the Orkneys, the Canary Islands
GRAMMAR VOCABULARY
Abbreviations
Attributive
Base form
Bloated words
Compound nouns
Contrastive points
Compared
Clause
Case letter
Compound
Complex
Complex-transitive
verbs
Di-transitive verbs
Intransitive verbs
Initial capital letter
Linking verbs
Modifiers
Nominalize
Notional concord
Syntactic functions
Syntactic function
Subject
Sentence
Substitution
Structure
Verbal
Forkortelser
premodifying
Infinitive form
Phrases that have a lexical word as their head
Sammensatte substantive (toothbrush)
Plural form leaves corresponding to the singular leaf. Uncountable in English, and countable
in Norwegian.
Gradbøyd
Grammatical unit. It must contain at least a verbal, with subject.
Første bokstav.
Sammensatt
Kompleks
Requires a direct object and an object predicative
When a verb requires two objects (direct and indirect)
Does not take a direct object. – run
Storbokstav I egennavn.
Uselvstendige verb
that give further information about noun
can be found before (premodifiers) and after (postmodifiers) the noun
Turn into a noun
Verbal agrees with the meaning rather than the form of the subject
Verbal and subject
Direct object
Thing or a person that is responsible for the action. It is also noun phrase that determines
which form the verbs should have (have/has)
Has a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
(utropstegn) at the end
We try to replace a unit with one single word
The little girl (she) was kissing (kissed) the poor boy living next door (him).
Words – phrases – clauses – sentences – text
Syntactic function of the verb phrase
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