GLOBAL WRITERS BUREAU ENGLISH GRAMMAR & WRITING STYLE COURSE
LESSON 5
Where there are nouns and pronouns there are likely to be adjectives, since the adjective’s task is to qualify nouns and pronouns. So we will often find adjectives beside subject words, object words, and in the extension of the verb. Adjectives are usually found by asking ‘what kind of?’ ‘which?’ ‘how many?’ ‘how much?’
SUBJECT
VERB
OBJECT
EXT. OF VERB
The Quaint
Was
A box
To the shop
Old lady
Carrying
Of fireworks
At the corner
Often a group of words – introduced by a preposition and ending with a noun or pronoun qualifies another noun or pronoun such groups of words are called adjectival phrases.
SUBJECT
VERB
OBJECT
EXT. OF VERB
A man of
Was
A box
To the shop
Middle height
Carrying
Of fireworks
At the corner
Exercise 5:
Decide under which heading the CAPITALIZED words or groups of words should be placed.
- The ALLEY cat walks WITH A LIMP.
(A- subject, ext. of verb) (B-subject, object)
- The man WITH A LIMP called today.
(A- subject) (B- ext. of verb)
- I have seen MANY battles IN MY LIFE.
(A- object, object) (B- object, ext. of verb)
- He has seen a man OF WEALTH.
(A- object) (B- ext. of verb)
GLOBAL WRITERS BUREAU ENGLISH GRAMMAR & WRITING STYLE COURSE
LESSON 6
The non-finite verb (which cannot take a subject and cannot form a sentence) has two forms.
- THE INFINITE:
This is the root from which all verbs are formed – TO DRIVE, TO BE DRIVEN, TO HAVE DRIVEN, etc. it can do the work of a subject word or object word – so it can do the work of a noun. It can also do the work of an adjective or adverb, since it always contains more than one word, it is usually referred to as a phrase.
- TO ERR is human. (what is human)
Noun phrase
- He likes TO SWIM. (likes what?)
Noun phrase
- A roof TO SHELTER us. (what kind of roof?)
Adjective phrase
- He works hard TO SUCCEED. (works hard why?)
Adverb phrase
- THE PARTICIPLE
This helps finite verbs to form tenses: - DRIVING, BEING DRIVEN, HAVING DRIVEN, etc. by itself, it always does the work of an adjective:
SMILING, the man left the room. (what kind of man?)
A phrase introduced by a participle called a participle phrase. It does the work of an adjective phrase and it qualifies the nearest noun or pronoun.
SMILING QUIETLY TO HIMSELF, the man left the room. (what kind of man?)
A SMILING-QUIETLY-TO-HIMSELF MAN)
EXERCISE 6:
DECIDE WHETHER THE CAPITALIZED WORDS
ARE FINITE VERBS OR NOT:
- She wants TO JOIN us (A. no) (B. yes)
- She WANTS to join us (A. no) (B. yes)
- SOBBING loudly, she sat down, (A. yes) (B. no)
- She WAS SOBBING loudly. (A. no) (B. yes)
