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Grammar for Academic Writing provides a selective overview of the key areas of English grammar that you need to master, in order to express yourself correctly and appropriately in academic writing. Those areas include the basic distinctions of meaning in the verb tense system, the use of modal verbs to express
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The Oxford Guide to English Grammar is a systemati c account of grammatica l forms and the way they are used in standard British English today. The emphasis is on meanings and how they govern the choice of grammatica l pattern. The book is thorough in its coverage but pays most attentio n to points that are of
- Grammar for English Language Teachers has two primary aims:
- Who this book is for
- Content and organisation
- Data
- Finding the information
- Introduction to Part A
- Recognising word classes
- Words that belong to more than one word class
- 1 Nouns
- 1.1 Key considerations
- What do they do?
- What do they look like?
- 1.3 Where do nouns come in sentences?
- What are countable and uncountable nouns?
- Words which come before and after countable and uncountable nouns
- Closely related countable and uncountable nouns
- Nouns which can be countable as well as uncountable
- new French cheese
- Irregular forms
- Language change
- Using dictionaries
- 1.6 Quantifying phrases
- pair of . . .
- 1.7 Collective nouns
- Using nouns to modify nouns
- Possessive forms
- Comprehension
- Word endings
- Countable and uncountable nouns
- Choosing the wrong plural form
- Using nouns to modify nouns
- Choosing the wrong possessive form
- Pronunciation (see p. 402)
- Language in context (see p. 428)
- Changing attitudes (see p. 429)
to help you develop your overall knowledge and understanding of English grammar. . to provide a quick source of reference in planning lessons or clarifying learners' problems. The book provides a broader perspective of grammar than that presented to students in course materials. It encourages you to appreciate the complexity (and, where relevant, t...
This book is intended for: . prospective and practising teachers studying language as part of a degree in English or on courses such as those leading to teaching certi®cates and diplomas. . teachers who want to continue learning and exploring the grammar of English on their own. . teachers who do and teachers who do not speak English as a ®rst lang...
People sometimes associate the term `grammar' with the different parts of speech or `word classes' that words can belong to (adjective, noun, preposition etc.). Materials produced for studying English over the last three decades have, however, re ̄ected and promoted an obsession with another aspect of grammar ± the verb phrase (tenses, conditionals...
Authentic data has been used extensively in: . formulating and checking generalisations about language use. . obtaining and adapting examples.
The section headed Short cut to what you're looking for at the beginning of the book is organised alphabetically and enables you very quickly to locate information about a speci®c feature of grammar. In the longer term, there is no `quick substitute' for systematically reading, studying, accumulating knowledge and developing awareness of grammar. T...
Words and grammar are often thought of as being separate entities. In fact, in learning any word we are also learning something about its grammar. Words belong to different grammatical classes (e.g. noun, verb, preposition), and the class of a word determines: . what other kinds of words we can combine with it. Example: We can say a beautiful day b...
In some languages the word itself tells us a lot about what class it belongs to (for example, the spelling and pronunciation of the end of a word may show that it is a noun). In English there are very few clues in the word itself, and we usually have to look at the context. The following gives examples of different parts of speech: adjective noun p...
A lot of words can function as a member of one word class in some contexts and as a member of another word class in other contexts. All quanti®ers apart from no can also function as pronouns.
cat cats elite capacity dustbin steak people Wednesday
Most learners are more concerned with the meaning of nouns than with their grammar. However, in learning to use a noun, they need to pay attention to a variety of grammatical factors. In particular they need to know whether a noun is countable or uncountable, and if countable, what its plural form is. More generally, learners also need to be able t...
The popular de®nition of a noun is that it `describes a person, place or thing'. In fact we use nouns to express a range of additional meanings such as concepts, qualities, organisations, communities, sensations and events. Nouns convey a substantial proportion of the information in most texts. In the previous paragraph, the following words are nou...
Endings A small proportion of nouns have identi®able `noun endings'. These include: tradition, ability, instrument, excellence, signi®cance. Many plural nouns end in s, e.g. cats. Proper nouns and capital letters Words which begin with capital letters and are not at the beginning of sentences are often the names of people, places or institutions. T...
Nouns can: . act as the subject of a verb: Cats kill mice. . act as the object of a verb: Cats kill mice. . act as the complement of a verb: They are men. They often end a phrase which begins with an article such as a(n), or a quanti®er such as either, any, or many. They also often follow adjectives. a drunk either way a much older elite large mice
Countable nouns ([C]) have a singular and a plural form, e.g. book ± books. Uncountable nouns ([U]) have only one form, e.g. furniture NOT
The words we use before and after nouns are determined by whether the noun is singular (countable), plural (countable) or uncountable:
Some uncountable nouns have a countable equivalent which is a different word. work [U] : job [C] travel [U] : journey [C]. The things some uncountable nouns describe can be `broken up' into countable components. With some uncountable nouns we can use particular words to itemise or count what they describe. three blades of grass an item of news
Some nouns are countable with one meaning, and uncountable with a different meaning. We got lost in a wood. [C] Wood burns more easily than coal. [U] Sometimes countable and uncountable forms represent two closely connected uses of one word. I told her a few truths about herself. [C] We'll never learn the truth. [U] Some nouns that were originally ...
fresh orange juice . a quantity/unit of something. beer two sugars Countable nouns are also called mass nouns, and uncountable nouns are also called unit nouns.
Many irregular plural forms involve a change in vowel. man ) men tooth ) teeth foot ) feet Learners sometimes ®nd it dif®cult to remember which form is singular and which is plural. Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms (nouns that end in s often fall into this category). sheep two sheep a series ) two series crossroads ) two crossroad...
The standard plural form of some words is changing from a `foreign' form to an anglicised one. foci ) focuses syllabi ) syllabuses. The original plural form of some words is coming to be used as singular. criteria phenomena
Because there is no way of telling whether a singular noun has a regular or an irregular plural form, we need to encourage learners to use a dictionary to check and learn the plural spelling and pronunciation of words that they come across as a matter of course.
A range / variety / majority / proportion / number of . . . We use these expressions before nouns to express something about quantity, e.g. a variety of issues. They are all followed by plural nouns. If the expression is followed by a verb, this is also usually in a plural form. A wide range of people were invited. However, some people prefer to us...
Some nouns which exist only in a plural form can be quali®ed by a pair of, e.g. a pair of trousers / scissors / glasses.
Collective nouns are words which represent groups of people, e.g. the team, the Conservative Party. These nouns are singular in that we can talk about an awful government or a big staff. Some people believe that these nouns should be followed by singular verb forms (The staff was happy) and that singular pronouns should be used (The team won its ®r...
We frequently use two nouns together an insect repellent computer virus daffodil bulb The ®rst `modifying' noun usually tells us what kind of a thing the second noun describes (an insect repellent is a kind of repellent; a computer virus is a kind of virus). When two nouns are frequently used together, they may be separated by a hyphen (-), e.g. a ...
Possessive 's We add 's to nouns or noun phrases (groups of words containing a noun that can replace a single noun) to show that what follows belongs to them, e.g. the teacher's car. The last word in a noun phrase is not always a noun. However, we can still attach 's to the last word in the phrase. It's that girl I told you about's book. Although w...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
Look at the following and answer the questions about the underlined words. The media is becoming very interested. Alitalia have adopted a policy of apologising for any delay. My criteria for making this decision is personal. They have produced several syllabuses. Do you use this form yourself? Would you consider the form a mistake if produced by an...
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English grammar and punctuation, and I cannot hope to distil several years of schooling into this short Study Guide. However, the commonest problems that people face when it comes to grammar and punctuation are relatively few, so let’s focus on those, and let’s begin by talking about commas.
A complete guide to the word "SQUAD": definitions, pronunciations, synonyms, grammar insights, collocations, examples, and translations.
British English: squad NOUN / skwɒd / A squad is a section of a police force that is responsible for dealing with a particular type of crime. The building was evacuated and the bomb squad called.
This is the fith edition of English Grammar in Use. I wrote the original edition when I was a teacher at the Swan School of English, Oxford. I would like to repeat my thanks to my former colleagues and students at the school for their help, encouragement and interest at that time.
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