Grammer Guide语法.docx

1、Grammer Guide语法Grammar GuideBy Kam Biu-bongAActive voiceActive and Passive voiceEvents may be related in the active or the passive voice. In the passive, the person or thingreceivingthe action becomes the grammaticalsubject.For example (the entity receiving the action is in boldface): active voice:

2、Eric Rohmer madethis film. passive voice:This filmwas made by Eric Rohmer.One forms the passive by conjugating the verb to be before the past participle of the principal verb. the tense of the verb to be will determine the tense of action. When an agent of the action (that is, the person or entitype

3、rformingthe action) must be described, one does so by using the preposition by: This industrywill soon be developedin the third world. Sorry, but this carhas been purchasedbyanother customer.English uses the passive voice frequently, although it is best to avoid it when possible. An option is to use

4、 an impersonal subject, such as one or someone (passive voice): This job needs to be done. (active voice): Someone needs to do this job.Agreement, adjectivesAdjectivesFormsAdjectives are generally invariable in English and do not agree with nouns in number and gender; nor do they take case endings:

5、abluecar thegreatoutdoors a group ofyoungwomenHowever, a few adjectives have a connotation which is slightly masculine or feminine. Thus, one says that a woman isbeautifulwhile a man would be calledhandsome.Adjectives indicating religion or nationality (or a region, state or province) generally begi

6、n with a capital letter, whether they refer to people or objects: She is anAmericanstudent. They go to aCatholicschool. They enjoyBretonmusic.Usage:In a noun cluster an adjective will be placed, with very few exceptions,in front ofthe noun it modifies. When two adjectives precede a noun, they can be

7、 connected by a comma (,) or by the conjunction and. In a series of three or more adjectives, one usually uses and before the last adjective in the list.Examples: I likeshortnovels. That fellow will be acompetentworker. She writeslongandfloweryletters. He workslong,hardhours. She had amean,oldandove

8、rbearingstep-mother.An adjective may follow the noun when it is in a predicate (after the verb) or in a relative clause. (In relative clauses the relative pronoun may be implicit.)Examples: He was a man (who was) alwayshappyto help others. She is a woman (who is)trueto herself. They were entirelysat

9、isfied.Agreement, nounsNounsGenderIn English nouns rarely change form, even to indicate gender. As a general rule, only nouns referring to people and some animals reflect gender in their form. By the same token, unlike many other languages, the adjectives modifying nouns will remain unchanged.Exampl

10、e: My poor little dog died.However, certain nouns - especially those referring to people - may have different forms to indicate masculine or feminine usage: man - woman gentleman - lady actor - actress uncle - aunt father - motherThe same can be said of certain male and female animals: a buck, a doe

11、 a ram, a ewe a bull, a cow a stallion, a mareIn other cases, the word male or female is added, if it is considered necessary to be specific: a female cat a male giraffeNote: If the gender of the person or animal is known, one will generally use the pronoun he or she to refer to it, as appropriate.

12、When the gender is left unstated, the pronoun he is generally used when speaking of people, or it when speaking of animals. Some objects are also considered to be gendered in certain usages: some people may refer to a boat or a car as she.Certain nouns (especially the names of professions) are tradi

13、tionally associated with men or women, in which case one signals exceptions to the tradition by adding woman (or lady) or man to the term: They are in a group of male dancers. My wife prefers to see a woman doctor.PluralsAs a general rule, the plural is formed by adding -s to the singular form of no

14、uns. shoe - shoes book - books river - riversNouns ending in s or s will generally take the ending -es : bus - buses kiss - kissesWords ending in y will generally take the ending -ies in place of the y: party - parties supply - suppliesCertain words have very irregular forms in the plural: one man -

15、 two men one woman - two women one person - two people one foot - two feet one mouse - two mice one goose - two geese one tooth - two teeth one wife - two wives one child - two children one knife - two knives one thief - two thieves one dwarf - two dwarves (ou:dwarfs) one potato - two potatoes one l

16、eaf - two leaves one life - two lives one loaf - two loaves one half - two halvesA small set of words do not change form in the plural: one moose - two moose one sheep - two sheep one aircraft - two aircraftWords of Greek or Latin origin which have retained their original endings will generally take

17、 the plural form associated with the language they are drawn from: one alumnus - two alumni one syllabus - two syllabi one alumna - two alumnae one alga - many algae one criterion - many criteria one forum - many fora (or:forums) one thesis - two theses one hypothesis - two hypotheses one phenomenon

18、 - two phenomena one cactus - two cacti (or:cactuses) one diagnosis - two diagnoses one oasis - two oases one analysis - two analysesA few nouns are invariable or collective, always indicating a plural meaning: She gave me someinformation. Michelle has a lot ofclothes.Capital lettersCertain nouns ar

19、e generally capitalized, including: days of the week and months; names of holidays, cities (or states, etc.) and religions; nouns of nationality: Minneapolis Jewish Monday AprilAdjective OrderWhen two or more adjectives are used to describe something they are put in a certain order. For example, opi

20、nions come before facts. Beautiful long black hair A handsome young man A nice new shirtNice, beautiful and handsome are opinions. Young, new, long and black are facts. Opinions come first. Size comes before age. Age comes before color. The following chart show the basic order of adjectives, but you

21、 should know that sometimes this order is not followed.NOTE IN THE ABOVE CHART “shape” (round, square) should be put between “age” and “color”, and the “noun” column should be separated from the other columns, with a + inserted.Example:We rented a nice little brown log cabin by a lake.Note: We usual

22、ly limit the number of adjectives preceding a noun to three.Adjectives, demonstrativeDemonstrative adjectivesDemonstrative adjectives have two singular forms (this,that) and two plural forms (these,those). These adjectives are used to designate proximity to an object, or to distinguish between an ob

23、ject that is close (in time or space) and one that is more remote. Usually this and these signal proximity, while that and those suggest distance: Thesebooks are too expensive. Thiscar is responsive. Thatman irritates me! Thishotel is more expensive thanthatone.Demonstrative pronounsDemonstrative pr

24、onouns have the same form as the demonstrative adjectives, but are used without the nouns to which they refer. In the singular, when designating a specific object, the pronoun one is often added: These tomatoes are fresher thanthose. These are better thanthose. Would you like a little ofthis? Thatst

25、rikes me as really weird! The book is more interesting thanthat one.In front of a relative pronoun,the demonstrative pronoun becomes the one or the ones (when speaking of things), or he / she who, they who (when speaking of people): This film isthe onethat you hated so much. He whoeats well works we

26、ll. This pen isthe onewith which the President signed the new law.Adjectives, possessivePossessionIn English possession may be expressed in five different ways:Possessive adjectivesPossessive adjectives agree with the person to whom they refer: I - my you - your he, her, it - his(masculine), her(fem

27、inine), its(impersonal) we - our they - theirSo, I have lostmykeys. They are coming intheircar. I metyourgrandparents. This car has lostitspower.Note:In English the possessive adjective is used to refer to parts of the body: She brushesherteeth twice a day. He brokehisarm playing soccer. Hisstomach

28、aches.Possessive pronounsPossessive pronouns, like the adjectives, agree with the person to whom they refer. Singular and plural share the same form: I - mine your - yours he, she, it - his(masculine), hers(feminine),its(impersonal) we - ours they - theirsSo, I have my likes, and she hashers. If you

29、 give me one ofyours, Ill give you one ofmine. I like our house, but frankly, I am jealous oftheirs! Thatsmine!The verb to belong toThe verb to belong to indicates ownership or possession: That poodlebelongs toLouise. The worldbelongs toyou.The s of possessionOne may add -s to any noun in order to i

30、ndicate possession: I just readGustavosbook. The frontdoorslock is broken. Many of theworldscountries are poor.Note: Do not confuse the s of possession with the contraction of the verb is: Freds going to fetch it. (= Fredisgoing to fetch it.) The trains late again. (=The trainislate again.)Whose for indicating possessionWhose will be placed before the possession (the object possessed), and will refer ownership to the preceding noun: The man whose dog bit me sai