Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course one ─

THE ARTICLE

An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. The three main articles in the English language are the, an and a. An article is sometimes called a noun marker, although this is generally considered to be an archaic term.

It is sometimes wondered which part of speech articles belong to. Despite much speculation, articles are not adjectives because they don't describe nouns; they just agree with them. Linguists place them in a different category, that of determiners.

Articles can have various functions: ♦ A definite article (English the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a

particular member of a group. The cat is on the black mat.♦ An indefinite article (English a, an) is used before singular nouns that refer to any member of

a group. A cat is a mammal. ♦ A partitive article indicates an indefinite quantity of a mass noun; there is no partitive article

in English, though the words some or any often have that function. French: Voulez-vous du café ? ("Do you want some coffee?" or "Do you want coffee?") ♦ A zero article is the absence of an article (e.g. English indefinite plural), used in some

languages in contrast with the presence of one. Linguists hypothesize the absence as a zero article based on the X-bar theory.

Cats are mammals.

LOGIC OF DEFINITE ARTICLESIn English, a definite article is mostly used to refer to an object or person who has been

previously introduced. For example:At last they came to a piece of rising ground, from which they plainly distinguished, sleeping on

a distant mountain, a mammoth bear. . . . Then they requested the eldest to try and slip the belt over the bear's head. . . .

— Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi. In this example, a bear becomes the bear because a "mammoth bear" had been previously

introduced into the narrative, and no other bear was involved in the story. Only previously introduced subjects like "the bear" or unique subjects, where the speaker can assume that the audience is aware of the identity of the referent (The heart has its reasons. . . ) typically take definite articles in English.

By contrast, the indefinite article is used in situations where a new subject is being introduced, and the speaker assumes that the hearer is not yet familiar with the subject:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. . . — A traditional nursery rhyme Reflecting its historical derivation from the number word one, the English indefinite article can

only be used with singular count nouns. For mass nouns, or for plurals, adjectives or adjective phrases like some or a few substitute for it. In English, pronouns, nouns already having another non-number determiner, and proper nouns usually do not use articles. Otherwise in English, unlike many other languages, singular count nouns take an article; either a, an, or the. Also in English word order, articles precede any adjectives which modify the applicable noun.

In various languages other than English, masculine and feminine forms of articles differ. Singular and plural forms of articles can also differ in other languages. Many languages do not use articles at all, and may use other ways of indicating old vs. new information, such as topic-comment constructions.

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THEThe word the is the only definite article of the English language. The is the most common word

in the English language.

The article the is used in English as the very first part of a noun phrase. For example:The end of time begins now. Here "the end of time" is a noun phrase. The use of the signals that the reference is to a specific

and unique instance of the concept (such as person, object, or idea) expressed in the noun phrase. Here, the implication is that there is one end of time, and that it has arrived.

The time is 3:29 PM. There are many times, but the meaning here is the time now, of which (at the moment the

sentence was produced) there is only one.ETYMOLOGY

Linguists believe that the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages (i.e., the Proto-Indo-European language) did not have a definite article. Most of the languages in this family do not have definite or indefinite articles; there is no article in Latin, Sanskrit, Persian or in some modern Indo-European languages, especially in Slavic languages – Polish, Russian, Slovak and Czech, etc (the only Slavic languages that have articles are Bulgarian and Macedonian) and in the Baltic languages – Latvian, Lithuanian and Latgalian. Errors with the use of the and other determiners are common in people learning English (e.g., native Czech-speaker Ivana Trump, first wife of Donald Trump, referring to him as "the Donald"). Classical Greek has a definite article (which happens to be very similar to the definite article in German, but with t instead of German d), but Homeric Greek did not. In the etymologies of these and many other languages, the definite article arose by a demonstrative pronoun or adjective changing its usage; compare the fate of the Latin demonstrative "ille" (meaning "that") in the Romance languages, becoming French le, la, l’, and les, Spanish el, la, lo, los, and las, Italian il, la, lo, l’, i, gli, and le, and Portuguese o, os, a, and as.

The and that are common developments from the same Old English system. Old English had a definite article se, in the masculine gender, seo (feminine), and þæt (neuter). In Middle English these had all merged into þe, the ancestor of the Modern English word the.

In Middle English the (þe) was frequently abbreviated as a þ with a small e above it, similar to the abbreviation for that, which was a þ with a small t above it. During the latter Middle English and Early Modern English periods, the letter Thorn (þ) in its common script, or cursive, form came to resemble a y shape. As such the use of a y with an e above it as an abbreviation became common. This can still be seen in reprints of the 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible in places such as Romans 15:29, or in the Mayflower Compact. Note that the article was never pronounced with a y sound, even when so written.

REDUCTION AND OMISSIONThe article is not used in prepositional phrases that refer to travelling to certain places in order to

participate in an activity related to the place. You may, for example, "go to school". Here, we assume this refers a teacher or pupil who will be giving or attending classes. A parent visiting a teacher or collecting a child would go "to the school" as he or she will not be engaged in the normal activity of schooling. Furthermore, while the child would presumably receive equivalent education at most other schools, the parent must go to the particular school in which his child is enrolled: the child can only be collected from the school that he attends. Similarly, you will need to "go to hospital" after sustaining an injury, while anyone subsequently visiting you would be going "to the hospital", as they must go to the particular hospital where you are. In American English (as opposed to the latter usage of British English), the article is never omitted as either case would be referred to as going to "a hospital" or "the hospital." However, one would not talk about "going to cinema" even if your purpose is to participate in the typical activity related to the place (that is, to watch a film).

In news headlines and informal writing, such as notes or diaries, the definite article and some other particles are often omitted, for example, "Must pick up prescription at pharmacy today."

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In some Northern England dialects of English, the is pronounced as [tə] (with a dental t) or as a glottal stop, usually written in eye dialect as <t>; in some dialects it reduces to nothing. This is known as definite article reduction.

The is not used with noncountable nouns referring to something in a general sense:♦ [no article/zero article] Coffee is a popular drink.♦ [no article/zero article] Japanese was his native language.♦ [no article/zero article] Intelligence is difficult to quantify.The is used with noncountable nouns that are made more specific by a limiting modifying

phrase or clause:♦ The coffee in my cup is too hot to drink.♦ The Japanese he speaks is often heard in the countryside.♦ The intelligence of animals is variable but undeniable.♦ The is also used when a noun refers to something unique:♦ the White House♦ the theory of relativity♦ the 1999 federal budget

GEOGRAPHICAL USES OF THE In English most countries never take the definite article, but there are many that do. It is

commonly used with many country names which derive from names of island groups (the Philippines), mountain ranges (the Lebanon), deserts (the Sudan), and other geographic expressions (the Netherlands). Such use is declining, but for some countries it remains common. Since the independence of Ukraine, most style guides have advised dropping the article, in part because the Ukrainian government was concerned about a similar issue involving prepositions.

The U.S. Department of State and CIA World Factbook show the definite article with only two countries: The Bahamas and The Gambia.

Do not use the before: ♦ names of countries (Italy, Mexico, Bolivia) except the Netherlands and the US ♦ names of cities, towns, or states (Seoul, Manitoba, Miami) ♦ names of streets (Washington Blvd., Main St.) ♦ names of lakes and bays (Lake Titicaca, Lake Erie) except with a group of lakes like the Great

Lakes ♦ names of mountains (Mount Everest, Mount Fuji) except with ranges of mountains like the

Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the Matterhorn ♦ names of continents (Asia, Europe) ♦ names of islands (Easter Island, Maui, Key West) except with island chains like the Aleutians,

the Hebrides, or the Canary Islands Do use the before:

♦ names of rivers, oceans and seas (the Nile, the Pacific) ♦ points on the globe (the Equator, the North Pole) ♦ geographical areas (the Middle East, the West) ♦ deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas (the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest, the

Iberian Peninsula).

FURTHER USES OF ARTICLES

In addition, use of a, an, and the also depends on whether the noun following the article possesses one of these paired qualities:

♦ Countable vs. noncountable ♦ First vs. subsequent mention ♦ General vs. specific

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1. Countable vs. NoncountableA and an are used if the noun can be counted.I stepped in a puddle. (How many puddles did you step in? Just one. Therefore, use a.) I drank a glass of milk. (Glasses of milk can be counted)I saw an apple tree. (Apple trees can be counted)The must be used when the noun cannot be counted.

I dove into the water. (How many waters did you dive into? The question doesn't make any sense because water is non-countable. Therefore, use the.)

I saw the milk spill. (How many milks? Milk cannot be counted)I admired the foliage. (How many foliages? Foliage cannot be counted)

2. First vs. Subsequent MentionA or an is used to introduce a noun when it is mentioned for the first time in a piece of writing.

The is used afterward each time you mention that same noun.An awards ceremony at the Kremlin would not normally have attracted so much attention. But

when it was leaked that Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko would be presenting medals to three cosmonauts, interest in the ceremony intensified. Time, Sept. 17, 1984.

Note: There is and there are can be used to introduce an indefinite noun at the beginning of a paragraph or essay.

There is a robin in the tree outside my window. When my cat jumps up on the desk, the robin flies away.

3. General vs. SpecificA, an, and the can all be used to indicate that a noun refers to the whole class to which individual

countable nouns belong. This use of articles is called generic, from the Latin word meaning "class."A tiger is a dangerous animal. (any individual tiger)The tiger is a dangerous animal. (all tigers: tiger as a generic category)The difference between the indefinite a and an and the generic a and an is that the former means

any one member of a class while the latter means all of the members of a class.The omission of articles also expresses a generic (or general) meaning:no article with a plural noun: Tigers are dangerous animals. (all tigers)no article with a noncountable noun: Anger is a destructive emotion. (any kind of anger) Omission of ArticlesWhile some nouns combine with one article or the other based on whether they are countable or

noncountable, others simply never take either article. Some common types of nouns that don't take an article are:

1. Names of languages and nationalitiesa. Chinese b. English c. Spanish d. Russian 2. Names of sportsa. volleyball b. hockey c. baseball 3. Names of academic subjectsa. mathematics b. biology c. history d. computer science

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Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course two ─

THE NOUN

In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other kinds of expressions. Since different languages have different inventories of kinds of expressions, the definition of noun will differ from language to language.

In English, nouns may be defined as those words which can co-occur with definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. The noun can be replaced by a pronoun of 1st person, 2nd person, or even 3rd person. Also the noun is known for being one of the eight parts of speech.

THE DISCOVERY OF NOUNSThe word comes from the Latin nomen meaning "name". Word classes like nouns were first

described by the Sanskrit grammarian Pā ṇ ini and ancient Greeks like Dionysios Thrax; and were defined in terms of their morphological properties. For example, in Ancient Greek, nouns inflect for grammatical case, such as dative or accusative. Verbs, on the other hand, inflect for tenses, such as past, present or future, while nouns do not. Aristotle also had a notion of onomata (nouns) and rhemata (verbs) which, however, does not exactly correspond with modern notions of nouns and verbs. Nouns are words that describe person, place, thing, animal or abstract idea.

NAMES FOR THINGSIn traditional school grammars, one often encounters the definition of nouns that they are all and

only those expressions that refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance, quality, or idea, etc. This is a semantic definition. It has been criticized by contemporary linguists as being uninformative.

Contemporary linguists generally agree that one cannot successfully define nouns (or other grammatical categories) in terms of what sort of object in the world they refer to or signify. Part of the conundrum is that the definition makes use of relatively general nouns ("thing," "phenomenon," "event") to define what nouns are. The existence of such general nouns demonstrates that nouns refer to entities that are organized in taxonomic hierarchies. But other kinds of expressions are also organized into such structured taxonomic relationships. For example the verbs "stroll," "saunter," "stride," and "tread" are more specific words than the more general "walk". Moreover, "walk" is more specific than the verb "move," which, in turn, is less general than "change." But it is unlikely that such taxonomic relationships can be used to define nouns and verbs. We cannot define verbs as those words that refer to "changes" or "states", for example, because the nouns change and state probably refer to such things, but, of course, aren't verbs. Similarly, nouns like "invasion," "meeting, or "collapse" refer to things that are "done" or "happen."

In fact, an influential theory has it that verbs like "kill" or "die" refer to events, which is among the sort of thing that nouns are supposed to refer to. The point being made here is not that this view of verbs is wrong, but rather that this property of verbs is a poor basis for a definition of this category, just like the property of having wheels is a poor basis for a definition of cars (some things that have wheels, such as my suitcase or a jumbo jet, aren't cars). Similarly, adjectives like "yellow" or "difficult" might be thought to refer to qualities, and adverbs like "outside" or "upstairs" seem to refer to places, which are also among the sorts of things nouns can refer to. But verbs, adjectives and adverbs are not nouns, and nouns aren't verbs, adjectives or adverbs. One might argue that "definitions" of this sort really rely on speakers' prior intuitive knowledge of what nouns, verbs and adjectives are, and, so don't really add

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anything over and beyond this. Speakers' intuitive knowledge of such things might plausibly be based on formal criteria, such as the traditional grammatical definition of English nouns aforementioned.

PROTOTYPICALLY REFERENTIAL EXPRESSIONSAnother semantic definition of nouns is that they are prototypically referential. That definition is

also not very helpful in distinguishing actual nouns from verbs. But it may still correctly identify a core property of nounhood. For example, we will tend to use nouns like "fool" and "car" when we wish to refer to fools and cars, respectively. The notion that this is prototypical reflects the fact that such nouns can be used, even though nothing with the corresponding property is referred to:

John is no fool. If I had a car, I'd go to Marrakech. The first sentence above doesn't refer to any fools, nor does the second one refer to any particular

car.PREDICATES WITH IDENTITY CRITERIA

The British logician Peter Thomas Geach proposed a very subtle semantic definition of nouns. He noticed that adjectives like "same" can modify nouns, but no other kinds of parts of speech, like verbs or adjectives. Not only that, but there also doesn't seem to be any other expressions with similar meaning that can modify verbs and adjectives. Consider the following examples:

Good: John and Bill participated in the same fight. Bad: *John and Bill samely fought. There is no English adverb "samely." In some other languages, like Czech, however there are

adverbs corresponding to "samely." Hence, in Czech, the translation of the last sentence would be fine; however, it would mean that John and Bill fought in the same way: not that they participated in the same fight. Geach proposed that we could explain this, if nouns denote logical predicates with identity criteria. An identity criterion would allow us to conclude, for example, that "person x at time 1 is the same person as person y at time 2." Different nouns can have different identity criteria. A well known example of this is due to Gupta:

National Airlines transported 2 million passengers in 1979. National Airlines transported (at least) 2 million persons in 1979. Given that, in general, all passengers are persons, the last sentence above ought to follow

logically from the first one. But it doesn't. It is easy to imagine, for example, that on average, every person who travelled with National Airlines in 1979, travelled with them twice. In that case, one would say that the airline transported 2 million passengers but only 1 million persons. Thus, the way that we count passengers isn't necessarily the same as the way that we count persons. Put somewhat differently: At two different times, you may correspond to two distinct passengers, even though you are one and the same person. For a precise definition of identity criteria, see Gupta.

Recently, Baker has proposed that Geach's definition of nouns in terms of identity criteria allows us to explain the characteristic properties of nouns. He argues that nouns can co-occur with (in-)definite articles and numerals, and are "prototypically referential" because they are all and only those parts of speech that provide identity criteria. Baker's proposals are quite new, and linguists are still evaluating them.

CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS IN ENGLISH PROPER NOUNS AND COMMON NOUNS

Proper nouns (also called proper names) are nouns representing unique entities (such as London, Universe or John), as distinguished from common nouns which describe a class of entities (such as city, well or person).

In English and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, proper nouns are usually capitalised. Languages differ in whether most elements of multiword proper nouns are capitalised (e.g., American English House of Representatives) or only the initial element (e.g., Slovenian Državni zbor 'National Assembly'). In German, nouns of all types are capitalised. The convention of capitalizing all nouns was previously used in English, but ended circa 1800. In America, the shift in capitalisation is recorded in several noteworthy documents. The end (but not the beginning) of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and all of the Constitution (1787) show nearly all nouns capitalised, the Bill of

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Rights (1789) capitalises a few common nouns but not most of them, and the Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment (1865) only capitalises proper nouns.

Sometimes the same word can function as both a common noun and a proper noun, where one such entity is special. For example the word God is capitalised as a proper noun when used in a monotheistic context, because it refers to a single god. Another example is the word "Internet." In the vast majority of usage, it is a proper noun, and thus capitalized. However, it can be used as a common noun when talking about "internet technologies" (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP) that are not necessarily in use on "the Internet," which is a specific global information network.

Owing to the essentially arbitrary nature of orthographic classification and the existence of variant authorities and adopted house styles, questionable capitalization of words is not uncommon, even in respected newspapers and magazines. Most publishers, however, properly require consistency, at least within the same document, in applying their specified standard.

The common meaning of the word or words constituting a proper noun may be unrelated to the object to which the proper noun refers. For example, someone might be named "Tiger Smith" despite being neither a tiger nor a smith. For this reason, proper nouns are usually not translated between languages, although they may be transliterated. For example, the German surname Knödel becomes Knodel or Knoedel in English (not the literal Dumpling). However, the transcription of place names and the names of monarchs, popes, and non-contemporary authors is common and sometimes universal. For instance, the Portuguese word Lisboa becomes Lisbon in English; the English London becomes Londres in French; and the Greek Aristotelēs becomes Aristotle in English.

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNSCount nouns are common nouns that can take a plural, can combine with numerals or quantifiers

(e.g. "one", "two", "several", "every", "most"), and can take an indefinite article ("a" or "an"). Examples of count nouns are "chair", "nose", and "occasion".

Mass nouns (or non-count nouns) differ from count nouns in precisely that respect: they can't take plural or combine with number words or quantifiers. Examples from English include "laughter", "cutlery", "helium", and "furniture". For example, it is not possible to refer to "a furniture" or "three furnitures". This is true, even though the furniture referred to could, in principle, be counted. Thus the distinction between mass and count nouns shouldn't be made in terms of what sorts of things the nouns refer to, but rather in terms of how the nouns present these entities.

COLLECTIVE NOUNSCollective nouns are nouns that refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity,

even when they are inflected for the singular. Examples include "committee," "herd" and "school" (of herring). These nouns have slightly different grammatical properties than other nouns. For example, the noun phrases that they head can serve as the subject of a collective predicate, even when they are inflected for the singular. A collective predicate is a predicate that normally can't take a singular subject. An example of the latter is "talked to each other."

Good: The boys talked to each other. Bad: *The boy talked to each other. Good: The committee talked to each other.

CONCRETE NOUNS AND ABSTRACT NOUNSConcrete nouns refer to definite objects which you use at least one of your senses to observe. For

instance, "chair", "apple", or "Janet". Abstract nouns on the other hand refer to ideas or concepts, such as "justice" or "hate". While this distinction is sometimes useful, the boundary between the two of them is not always clear; consider, for example, the noun "art". In English, many abstract nouns are formed by adding noun-forming suffixes ("-ness", "-ity", "-tion") to adjectives or verbs. Examples are "happiness", "circulation" and "serenity".

NOUNS AND PRONOUNSNoun phrases can typically be replaced by pronouns, such as "he", "it", "which", and "those", in

order to avoid repetition or explicit identification, or for other reasons. For example, in the sentence "Janet thought that he was weird", the word "he" is a pronoun standing in place of the name of the person in question. The English word one can replace parts of noun phrases, and it sometimes stands in for a noun. An example is given below:

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John's car is newer than the one that Bill has. But one can also stand in for bigger subparts of a noun phrase. For example, in the following

example, one can stand in for new car.This new car is cheaper than that one.

SUBSTANTIVE AS A WORD FOR "NOUN"Starting with old Latin grammars, many European languages use some form of the word

substantive as the basic term for noun. Nouns in the dictionaries of such languages are demarked by the abbreviation "s" instead of "n", which may be used for proper nouns instead. This corresponds to those grammars in which nouns and adjectives phase into each other in more areas than, for example, the English term predicate adjective entails. In French and Spanish, for example, adjectives frequently act as nouns referring to people who have the characteristics of the adjective. An example in English is:

The poor you have always with you. Similarly, an adjective can also be used for a whole group or organization of people:The Socialist International. Hence, these words are substantives that are usually adjectives in English.

The Plural of the NounsThe majority of nouns in English spell their plural by simply adding a final -s. Nouns that are

non-count or abstract (e.g., cheese, sugar, honesty, intelligence) generally take a singular verb, but in some instances can be plural, in which case they follow the rules for plural based on their spelling. Also, there are some categories of words which are only plural, even though their spelling does not reflect this. They are included in a list at the end of this page. For irregular count nouns and nouns that have been borrowed from other languages, the rules are as follows:

Variations of the final -s rule:Nouns that end with -s, -z, -x, -sh, -ch   Add -es glass/glasses, buzz/buzzes, box/boxes, bush/bushes, switch/switches Nouns that end in -o   Add -es potato/potatoes, echo/echoes, hero/heroes exceptions: studio/studios, piano/pianos, kangaroo/kangaroos, zoo/zoos either: buffalo/buffalo(e)s, cargo/cargo(e)s, motto/motto(e)s,  volcano/volcano(e)sNouns that end in a consonant + -y   Change -y to -i and add -es baby/babies, spy/spies, poppy/poppiesNouns that end in -f , or -fe   Change the -f to -v and add -esshelf/shelves, wolf/wolves, knife/knives, wife/wives, calf/calves, half/halves, leaf/leaves,

life/lives, self/selves, loaf/loaves, thief/thieves, sheaf/sheaves;Exceptions: cliff/cliffs, handkerchief/handkerchiefs, roof/roofs Irregular plurals: child-children, man-men, woman-women, mouse-mice, goose-geese, foot-

feet, tooth-teeth, loose-lice, person-people.Nouns adopted from other languages:

Singular ends in –is   Plural ends in –es analysis/analyses, basis/basesSingular ends in –um   Plural ends in –a datum/data, curriculum/curricula

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Singular ends in –on   Plural ends in –a criterion/criteria, phenomenon/phenomenaSingular ends in –a   Plural ends in –ae formula/formulae, antenna/antennaeSingular ends in –ex or –ix   Plural ends in –ices appendix/appendices, index/indicesSingular ends in –us   Plural ends in –I focus/foci, stimulus/stimuliSingular ends in –us   Plural ends in –a corpus/corpora, genus/generaSingular ends in –eau   Plural ends in –eaux bureau/bureaux, beau/beauxNouns that have only a plural form and so take a plural verb Things that come in pairs  Tools: glasses, scissors, binoculars, forceps, tongs, tweezers Clothes: jeans, pants, pyjamas, shorts, trousersSome nouns in English are used only in the singular form and so the verb remains in singular:

accommodation, advice, furniture, information, knowledge, news, progress.Nouns that end in –s but have no singular (aggregate nouns)  accommodations, amends, archives, arms (weapons), bowels, intestines,  brains (intellect),

clothes, communications, congratulations, contents,  stairs, thanks, goods, contentsNouns that are plural but do not end in –s  people, police, cattle, peopleSome nouns have the same form for both plural and singular:deer, fish, series, sheep, species, homework.The names of many sciences ending in "ics" are singular. The verb remains in the singular form:

Ethics, Mathematics, Statistics, Phonetics, Genetics.IMPORTANT REMARKS:The plural forms "hundreds", "dozens", "thousands", etc. are used if some indefinite number is

implied, as: Hundreds of miles, Dozens of eggs, Thousands of buildings.But they remain uninflected after numerals, as: Five hundred miles, Three dozen eggs, Four

thousand buildingsNote also that is this case the preposition of is placed after "hundreds", "dozens", "thousands",

etc. A definite number is never followed by of.Nouns denoting value, weight, time, measure, etc., when used as adjectives are singular in

form, as: two shillings but a two shilling piece, twelve pounds but a twelve pound book, thirty days but a thirty day month, eleven inches but an eleven inch ruler, eight miles but an eight mile walk.

Compound Nouns1. Normally, the last word is made plural in compound nouns:armchair-armchairs, bookcase-bookcases, mailman-mailmen.2. Where man or woman come first, both parts are made plural.manservant-menservants, woman-teacher/women-teachers.3. Compound nouns formed with prepositions or adverbs make only the first word plural.looker-on/lookers-on, sister-in-law/sisters-in-law.4. Compounds finishing in "ful" take "S".

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handful-handfuls, spoonful-spoonfuls.

Teacher: Oana StANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course three ─THE ADJECTIVE

Adjectives can be identified using a number of formal criteria. However, we may begin by saying that they typically describe an attribute of a noun.

Adjectives describe nouns by answering one of these three questions: What kind is it? How many are there? Which one is it? An adjective can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.

An adjective, in grammar, is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjective's subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional eight parts of speech, though linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that used to be considered adjectives but that are now recognized to be different.

Not all languages have adjectives, but most, including English, do. (English adjectives include big, old, and tired, among many others.) Those that do not typically use words of another part of speech, often verbs, to serve the same semantic function; for example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big", and would use a construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as "big house". Even in languages that do have adjectives, one language's adjective might not be another's; for example, where English has "to be hungry" (hungry being an adjective), French has "avoir faim" (literally "to have hunger").

In most languages with adjectives, they form an open class of words; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation.

Determiners vs. AdjectivesLinguists today distinguish determiners from adjectives, considering them to be two separate

parts of speech (or lexical categories), but traditionally, determiners were considered adjectives in some of their uses. (In English dictionaries, which typically still do not treat determiners as their own part of speech, determiners are often recognizable by being listed both as adjectives and as pronouns.) Determiners are words that express the reference of a noun in the context, generally indicating definiteness (as in a vs. the), quantity (as in one vs. some vs. many), or another such property.

Attributive, predicative, absolute, and substantive adjectivesA given occurrence of an adjective can generally be classified into one of four kinds of uses:Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify; for example,

happy is an attributive adjective in "happy kids". In some languages, attributive adjectives precede their nouns; in others, they follow their nouns; and in yet others, it depends on the adjective, or on the exact relationship of the adjective to the noun. In English, attributive adjectives usually precede their nouns in simple phrases, but often follow their nouns when the adjective is modified or qualified by a phrase acting as an adverb. For example: "I saw three happy kids", and "I saw three kids happy enough to jump up and down with glee".

Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula or other linking mechanism to the noun or pronoun they modify; for example, happy is a predicate adjective in "they are happy" and in "that made me happy".

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Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction (aside from a larger adjective phrase), and typically modify either the subject of a sentence or whatever noun or pronoun they are closest to; for example, happy is an absolute adjective in "The boy, happy with his lollipop, did not look where he was going."

Substantive adjectives act almost as nouns. One way this can happen is if a noun is elided and an attributive adjective is left behind. In the sentence, "I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy," happy is a substantive adjective, short for "happy one" or "happy book". Another way this can happen is in phrases like "out with the old, in with the new", where "the old" means, "that which is old" or "all that is old", and similarly with "the new". In such cases, the adjective functions either as a mass noun (as in the preceding example) or as a plural count noun, as in "The meek shall inherit the Earth", where "the meek" means "those who are meek" or "all who are meek".

Adjectival phrasesAn adjective acts as the head of an adjectival phrase. In the simplest case, an adjectival phrase

consists solely of the adjective; more complex adjectival phrases may contain one or more adverbs modifying the adjective ("very strong"), or one or more complements ("worth several dollars", "full of toys", "eager to please). In English, attributive adjectival phrases that include complements typically follow their subjects ("an evildoer devoid of redeeming qualities").

Other noun modifiersIn many languages, including English, it is possible for nouns to modify other nouns. Unlike

adjectives, nouns acting as modifiers (called attributive nouns or noun adjuncts) are not predicative; a red car is red, but a car park is not "car". In English, the modifier often indicates origin ("Virginia reel"), purpose ("work clothes"), or semantic patient ("man eater"). However, it can generally indicate almost any semantic relationship. It is also common for adjectives to be derived from nouns, as in English, boyish, birdlike, behavioral, famous, manly, angelic, and so on.

Many languages have special verbal forms called participles that can act as noun modifiers. In some languages, including English, there is a strong tendency for participles to evolve into adjectives. English examples of this include relieved (the past participle of the verb relieve, used as an adjective in sentences such as "I am so relieved to see you"), spoken (as in "the spoken word"), and going (the present participle of the verb go, used as an adjective in sentences such as "Ten dollars per hour is the going rate").

Other constructs that often modify nouns include prepositional phrases (as in English "a rebel without a cause"), relative clauses (as in English "the man who wasn't there"), other adjective clauses (as in English "the bookstore where he worked"), and infinitive phrases (as in English "pizza to die for").

In relation, many nouns take complements such as content clauses (as in English "the idea that I would do that"); these are not commonly considered modifiers, however.

Adjective orderIn many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific order; for example, in

English, adjectives pertaining to size generally precede adjectives pertaining to age ("little old", not "old little"), which in turn generally precede adjectives pertaining to color ("old green", not "green old"). This order may be more rigid in some languages than others may; in some, it may only be a default (unmarked) word order, with other orders being permissible to shift the emphasis.

Comparison of adjectivesIn many languages, adjectives can be compared. In English, for example, we can say that a car is

big, that it is bigger than another is, or that it is the biggest car of all. Not all adjectives lend themselves to comparison, however; for example, the English adjective even, in the sense of "being a multiple of two", is not considered comparable, in that it does not make sense to describe one integer as "more even" than another.

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Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared in this way, different approaches are used. Indeed, even within English, two different approaches are used: the suffixes -er and -est, and the words more and most. (In English, the general tendency is for shorter adjectives and adjectives from Anglo-Saxon to use -er and -est, and for longer adjectives and adjectives from French, Latin, Greek, and other languages to use more and most.) By either approach, English adjectives therefore have positive forms (big), comparative forms (bigger), and superlative forms (biggest); many languages do not distinguish comparative from superlative forms, however.

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 a two-syllable adjective ends in -y (happier and happiest); otherwise we use more and most when an adjective has more than one syllable.

Irregular Comparative and Superlative Formsgood better the bestbad worse the worstlittle less the leastmuchmany ▬more mostsomefar further furthestBe careful not to form comparatives or superlatives of adjectives which already express an

extreme of comparison — unique, for instance — although it probably is possible to form comparative forms of most adjectives: something can be more perfect, and someone can have a fuller figure. People who argue that one woman cannot be more pregnant than another have never been nine-months pregnant with twins.

According to Bryan Garner, "complete" is one of those adjectives that does not admit of comparative degrees. We could say, however, "more nearly complete." I am sure that I have not been consistent in my application of this principle in the Guide (I can hear myself, now, saying something like "less adequate" or "more preferable" or "less fatal"). Other adjectives that Garner would include in this list are as follows:

absolute, adequate, chief, complete, devoid, entire, fatal, final, ideal, impossible, irrevocable, main, manifest, minor, paramount, perpetual, preferable, principal, stationary, sufficient, unanimous, unavoidable, unbroken, unique, universal, whole.

Be careful, also, not to use more along with a comparative adjective formed with -er nor to use most along with a superlative adjective formed with -est (e.g., do not write that something is more heavier or most heaviest).

The as — as construction is used to create a comparison expressing equality:He is as foolish as he is large. She is as bright as her mother.

Less versus FewerWhen making a comparison between quantities we often have to make a choice between the

words fewer and less. Generally, when we're talking about countable things, we use the word fewer; when we're 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, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions: ♦ It's less than twenty miles to Dallas. ♦ He's less than six feet tall. ♦ Your essay should be a thousand words or less. ♦ We spent less than forty dollars on our trip. ♦ The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal.♦ In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.

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Taller than I / me ??When making a comparison with "than" do we end with a subject form or object form, "taller

than I/she" or "taller than me/her"? The correct response is "taller than I/she." We are looking for the subject form: "He is taller than I am/she is tall." (Except we leave out the verb in the second clause, "am" or "is.") Some good writers, however, will argue that the word "than" should be allowed to function as a preposition. If we can say "He is tall like me/her," then (if "than" could be prepositional like like) we should be able to say, "He is taller than me/her." It's an interesting argument, but — for now, anyway — in formal, academic prose, use the subject form in such comparisons.

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.")

More than / over ??In the United States, we usually use "more than" in countable numerical expressions meaning "in

excess of" or "over." In England, there is no such distinction. For instance, in the U.S., some editors would insist on "more than 40,000 traffic deaths in one year," whereas in the UK, "over 40,000 traffic deaths" would be acceptable. Even in the U.S., however, you will commonly hear "over" in numerical expressions of age, time, or height: "His sister is over forty; she's over six feet tall. We've been waiting well over two hours for her."

The Order of Adjectives in a SeriesIt would take a linguistic philosopher to explain why we say "little brown house" and not "brown

little house" or why we say "red Italian sports car" and not "Italian red sports car." The order in which adjectives in a series sort themselves out is perplexing for people learning English as a second language. Most other languages dictate a similar order, but not necessarily the same order. It takes a lot of practice with a language before this order becomes instinctive, because the order often seems quite arbitrary (if not downright capricious). There is, however, a pattern. You will find many exceptions to the pattern in the table below, but it is definitely important to learn the pattern of adjective order if it is not part of what you naturally bring to the language.

The categories in the following table can be described as follows:I. Determiners — articles and other limiters. II. Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a 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., red, black, pale) VI. Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian) 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)

It would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three (at the most) adjectives together. Furthermore, when adjectives belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated adjectives, and you will want to put a comma between them: the inexpensive, comfortable shoes. The rule for inserting the comma works this way: if you could have inserted a conjunction — and or but — between the two adjectives, use a comma. We could say these are "inexpensive but comfortable shoes," so we would use a comma between them (when the "but" isn't there). When you have three coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but don't insert a comma between the last adjective and the noun (in spite of the temptation to do so because you often pause there): a popular, respected, and good looking student.

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Capitalizing Proper AdjectivesWhen an adjective owes its origins to a proper noun, it should probably be capitalized. Thus we

write about Christian music, French fries, the English Parliament, the Ming Dynasty, a Faulknerian style, Jeffersonian democracy. Some periods of time have taken on the status of proper adjectives: the Nixon era, a Renaissance/Romantic/Victorian poet (but a contemporary novelist and medieval writer). Directional and seasonal adjectives are not capitalized unless they're part of a title:

We took the northwest route during the spring thaw. We stayed there until the town's annual Fall Festival of Small Appliances.

Collective AdjectivesWhen the definite article, the, is combined with an adjective describing a class or group of

people, the resulting phrase can act as a noun: the poor, the rich, the oppressed, the homeless, the lonely, the unlettered, the unwashed, the gathered, the dear departed. The difference between a Collective Noun (which is usually regarded as singular but which can be plural in certain contexts) and a collective adjective is that the latter is always plural and requires a plural verb:

The rural poor have been ignored by the media. The rich of Connecticut are responsible. The elderly are beginning to demand their rights. The young at heart are always a joy to be around.

Adjectival OppositesThe opposite or the negative aspect of an adjective can be formed in a number of ways. One way,

of course, is to find an adjective to mean the opposite — an antonym. The opposite of beautiful is ugly, the opposite of tall is short. A thesaurus can help you find an appropriate opposite. Another way to form the opposite of an adjective is with a number of prefixes. The opposite of fortunate is unfortunate, the opposite of prudent is imprudent, the opposite of considerate is inconsiderate, the opposite of honorable is dishonorable, the opposite of alcoholic is nonalcoholic, the opposite of being properly filed is misfiled. If you are not sure of the spelling of adjectives modified in this way by prefixes (or which is the appropriate prefix), you will have to consult a dictionary, as the rules for the selection of a prefix are complex and too shifty to be trusted. The meaning itself can be tricky; for instance, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.

A third means for creating the opposite of an adjective is to combine it with less or least to create a comparison which points in the opposite direction. Interesting shades of meaning and tone become available with this usage. It is kinder to say that "This is the least beautiful city in the state." than it is to say that "This is the ugliest city in the state." (It also has a slightly different meaning.) A candidate for a job can still be worthy and yet be "less worthy of consideration" than another candidate. It's probably not a good idea to use this construction with an adjective that is already a negative: "He is less unlucky than his brother," although that is not the same thing as saying he is luckier than his brother. Use the comparative less when the comparison is between two things or people; use the superlative least when the comparison is among many things or people.

My mother is less patient than my father. Of all the new sitcoms, this is my least favorite show.

Good versus WellIn 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.

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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."

Bad versus BadlyWhen 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.

Other Adjectival ConsiderationsAdjectives that are really Participles, verb forms with -ing and -ed endings, can be troublesome

for some students. It is one thing to be a frightened child; it is an altogether different matter to be a frightening child. Do you want to go up to your professor after class and say that you are confused or that you are confusing? Generally, the -ed ending means that the noun so described ("you") has a passive relationship with something — something (the subject matter, the presentation) has bewildered you and you are confused. The -ing ending means that the noun described has a more active role — you are not making any sense so you are confusing (to others, including your professor).

The -ed ending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions:We were amazed at all the circus animals. We were amused by the clowns. We were annoyed by the elephants. We were bored by the ringmaster. We were confused by the noise. We were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils. We were disappointed in their performance. We were embarrassed by my brother. We were exhausted from all the excitement. We were excited by the lion-tamer. We were excited about the high-wire act, too. We were frightened by the lions. We were introduced to the ringmaster. We were interested in the tent. We were irritated by the heat. We were opposed to leaving early. We were satisfied with the circus. We were shocked at the level of noise under the big tent. We were surprised by the fans' response. We were surprised at their indifference. We were tired of all the lights after a while. We were worried about the traffic leaving the parking lot.

A- AdjectivesThe most common of the so-called a- adjectives are ablaze, afloat, afraid, aghast, alert, alike,

alive, alone, aloof, ashamed, asleep, averse, awake, aware. These adjectives will primarily show up as predicate adjectives (i.e., they come after a linking verb).

The children were ashamed.

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The professor remained aloof. The trees were ablaze.

Occasionally, however, you will find a- adjectives 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, etc.

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course four ─

THE ADVERB

An adverb is a part of speech. It is any word that modifies any other part of language: verbs, adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentences and other adverbs, except for nouns; modifiers of nouns are primarily determiners and adjectives.

Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, when?, where?, why? and to what extent?This function is called the adverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e.,

adverbs) but by adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses.An adverb as an adverbial may be a sentence element in its own right.They treated her well. (SUBJECT) Alternatively, an adverb may be contained within a sentence element.An extremely small child entered the room. (SUBJECT + ADVERBIAL + OBJECT)Adverbs are words that modify :♦a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?) ♦an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?) ♦another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something

happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:

That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.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. And 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. Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would

say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree: Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.

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The student who reads fastest will finish first. We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients. The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen. She worked less confidently after her accident. That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years. The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He

can't run as fast as his sister."A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases,

the two forms have different meanings:He arrived late. Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual

situations:She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers. He did wrong by her. He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.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 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.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

Kinds of AdverbsAdverbs of MannerShe moved slowly and spoke quietly.Adverbs of PlaceShe has lived on the island all her life. She still lives there now.Adverbs of FrequencyShe takes the boat to the mainland every day.She often goes by herself.Adverbs of TimeShe tries to get back before dark.

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It's starting to get dark now.She finished her tea first.She left early.Adverbs of PurposeShe drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.She shops in several stores to get the best buys.

Positions of AdverbsOne 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.The following adverbs of frequency appear in various points in these sentences: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 can appear either before the verb or between the auxiliary and the main

verb:He finally showed up for batting practice. She has recently retired.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):

Dad takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day of his life.A second principle: among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, time,

purpose 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.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.

Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and ConjunctsRegardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When

this is true, as it almost always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts or adjunctive adverbs in the first two sentences of this paragraph.) When the adverb does not fit into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct and is often set off by a comma or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the sentence. Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too. Notice how "too" is a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier: It's too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive adverbs:

Frankly, Martha, I don't give a hoot. Fortunately, no one was hurt.Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a

transition between ideas.If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I'm not staying. We've told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he's done nothing to fix it.At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the

conjunctive adverb (often called the adverbial conjunction):Jose has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he's the most nervous person here.

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I love this school; however, I don't think I can afford the tuition.

Some Special CasesThe 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.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:Yasmin works hard. She 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.

Relative AdverbsAdjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where,

when, and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause).

The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place:My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather used to be minister.The relative pronoun "where" modifies the verb "used to be" (which makes it adverbial), but the

entire clause ("where my great grandfather used to be minister") modifies the word "church."A when clause will modify nouns of time: My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day.And a why clause will modify the noun reason:Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?We sometimes leave out the relative adverb in such clauses, and many writers prefer "that" to

"why" in a clause referring to "reason": Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today? I always look forward to the day when we begin our summer vacation. I know the reason that men like motorcycles.

See: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln, 4th Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York, 1994.

Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative AdverbsA viewpoint adverb generally comes after a noun and is related to an adjective that precedes that

noun:A successful athletic team is often a good team scholastically. Investing all our money in snowmobiles was probably not a sound idea financially.You will sometimes hear a phrase like "scholastically speaking" or "financially speaking" in these

circumstances, but the word "speaking" is seldom necessary.

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A focus adverb indicates that what is being communicated is limited to the part that is focused; a focus adverb will tend either to limit the sense of the sentence ("He got an A just for attending the class.") or to act as an additive ("He got an A in addition to being published."

Although negative constructions like the words "not" and "never" are usually found embedded within a verb string — "He has never been much help to his mother." — they are technically not part of the verb; they are, indeed, adverbs. However, a so-called negative adverb creates a negative meaning in a sentence without the use of the usual no/not/neither/nor/never constructions:

He seldom visits. She hardly eats anything since the accident. After her long and tedious lectures, rarely was anyone awake.

SynthesisAdverbs in English

In English, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often derived from verbs. Many other adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -ly to the adjectives. For example, great yields greatly. Note that some words that end in -ly are actually not adverbs, but adjectives, in which case the root word would usually be nouns, such as friendly, lovely. There are also underived adjectives that end in -ly, such as holy and ugly. In some cases, the suffix -wise may be used to derive adverbs from typical nouns. Historically, -wise competed with a related form -ways and won out against it. In a few words, like sideways, -ways survives; words like clockwise show the transition. Again, it is not a foolproof indicator of a word being an adverb. There are a number of other suffixes in English that derive adverbs from other word classes, and there are also many adverbs that are not morphologically indicated at all. Comparative Adverbs include more, most, least, and less.

Formally, adverbs in English are inflected in terms of comparison, just like adjectives. The comparative and superlative forms of adverbs are generated by adding -er and -est. Many adverbs are also periphrastically indicated by the use of more or most. Adverbs also take comparisons with as ... as, less, and least. The usual form pertaining to adjectives or adverbs is called the positive.

Adverbs as a "catch-all" categoryAdverbs are considered a part of speech in traditional English grammar and are still included as a

part of speech in grammar taught in schools and used in dictionaries. However, modern grammarians recognize that words traditionally grouped together as adverbs serve a number of different functions. Some would go so far as to call adverbs a "catch-all" category that includes all words that don't belong to one of the other parts of speech.

A more logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context.

When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories. For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others cannot. Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same. For example, in the sentences She gave birth naturally and Naturally, she gave birth, the word naturally has different meanings (actually the first sentence could be interpreted in the same way as the second, but context makes it clear which is meant). Naturally as a sentential adverb means something like "of course" and as a verb-modifying adverb means "in a natural manner". The "hopefully" controversy demonstrates that the class of sentential adverbs is a closed class (there is resistance to adding new words to the class), whereas the class of adverbs that modify verbs is not.

Words like very and particularly afford another useful example. We can say Perry is very fast, but not Perry very won the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words like here and there that cannot modify adjectives. We can say The sock looks good there but not It is a there beautiful sock. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these functions can confuse this issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is really two or more words that serve different functions. However, this distinction can be useful, especially considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different functions.

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Not is an interesting case. Grammarians have a difficult time categorizing it, and it probably belongs in its own class.

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course five ─

THE PREPOSITION

In the dictionary a preposition is defined as, 'an indeclinable word serving to mark a relation between the noun or pronoun it governs and another word'. Its etymology defines it as arising from the Latin 'prae' meaning 'before' and 'posito' meaning 'a putting or placing'. Therefore the preposition stands before the noun to tell you its position in time and space.

In grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. In English, the most used prepositions are "of", "to", "in", "for", and "on". Simply put, a preposition indicates a relation between things mentioned in a sentence.

A preposition is a word which shows relationships among other words in the sentence.  The relationships include direction, place, time, cause, manner and amount. 

A preposition always goes with a noun or pronoun which is called the object of the preposition.  The preposition is almost always before the noun or pronoun and that is why it is called a preposition.  The preposition and the object of the preposition together are called a prepositional phrase.

Linguists sometimes distinguish between a preposition, which precedes its phrase, a postposition, which follows its phrase, and as a rare case a circumposition, which surrounds its phrase. Taken together, these three parts of speech are called adpositions. In more technical language, an adposition is an element that, prototypically, combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. Some linguists use the word "preposition" instead of "adposition" for all three cases.

Some uses of English prepositional phrases:as a modifier to a verb sleep throughout the winter danced atop the tables for hours as a modifier to a noun the weather in April cheeses from France with live bacteria as the complement of a verb insist on staying home dispose of unwanted items as the complement of a noun a thirst for revenge as the complement of an adjective or adverb attentive to their needs separately from its neighbors as the complement of another preposition until after supper from beneath the bed

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Adpositions perform many of the same functions as case markings, but adpositions are syntactic elements, while case markings are morphological elements.

DefinitionAdpositions form a heterogeneous class, with fuzzy boundaries that tend to overlap with other

categories (like verbs, nouns, and adjectives). It is thus impossible to provide an absolute definition that picks out all and only the adpositions in every language. The following properties are, however, characteristic of the most frequently used, "core" members of most adpositional systems:

Adpositions are among the most frequently occurring words in languages that have them. For example, one frequency ranking for English word forms begins as follows (adpositions in bold):

the, of, and, to, a, in, that, it, is, was, I, for, on, you, … The most common adpositions are single, monomorphemic words. According to the ranking cited

above, for example, the most common English prepositions are: of, to, in, for, on, with, as, by, at, from, … An adposition combines syntactically with exactly one complement phrase, most often a noun

phrase (or, in a different analysis, a determiner phrase). (In some analyses, an adposition need have no complement. See below.) In English, this is generally a noun (or something functioning as a noun, e.g., a gerund), called the object of the preposition, together with its attendant modifiers.

An adposition establishes the grammatical relationship that links its complement phrase to another word or phrase in the context. In English, it also establishes a semantic relationship, which may be spatial (in, on, under, ...), temporal (after, during, ...), or logical (via, ...) in nature.

An adposition determines certain grammatical properties of its complement (e.g. its case). In English, the objects of prepositions are always in the objective case. In Koine Greek, certain prepositions always take their objects in a certain case (e.g., εν always takes its object in the dative), and other prepositions may take their object in one of several cases, depending on the meaning of the preposition (e.g., δια takes its object in the genetive or in the accusative, depending on the meaning).

Adpositions are non-inflecting (or "invariant"); i.e., they do not have paradigms of forms (for different tenses, cases, genders, etc.) in the same way as verbs, adjectives, and nouns in the same language.

Adpositions form a closed class of lexical items and cannot be productively derived from words of other categories.

Simple vs complexSimple adpositions consist of a single word, while complex adpositions consist of a group of

words that act as one unit. Some examples of complex prepositions in English are:in spite of, with respect to, except for, by dint of, next to The boundary between simple and complex adpositions is not clear-cut. Many simple adpositions

are derived from complex forms (e.g. with + in → within, by + side → beside) through grammaticalization. This change takes time, and during the transitional stages the adposition acts in some ways like a single word, and in other ways like a multi-word unit.

Semantic classificationAdpositions can be used to express a wide range of semantic relations between their complement

and the rest of the context. The following list is not an exhaustive classification:spatial relations: location (inclusion, exclusion, proximity), direction (origin, path, endpoint) temporal relations comparison: equality, opposition, price, rate content: source, material, subject matter instrument, manner cause, purpose, agent Most common adpositions are highly polysemous, and much research is devoted to the

description and explanation of the various interconnected meanings of particular adpositions. In many

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cases a primary, spatial meaning can be identified, which is then extended to non-spatial uses by metaphorical or other processes.

In some contexts, adpositions appear in contexts where their semantic contribution is minimal, perhaps altogether absent. Such adpositions are sometimes referred to as functional or case-marking adpositions, and they are lexically selected by another element in the construction, or fixed by the construction as a whole.

A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Note that many of the words may also function as other parts of speech. Also note that some prepositions are compound, made up of more than one word. The most common prepositions (simple and compound) are:”aboard” "about," "above," “according to”, "across," “across from”, "after," "against," “ahead of”, "along," “along side”, “along with”, “amid”, "among," “apart from”, "around," “aside from”, “as of”, "at," “atop”, “baring”, “because of”, "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," “besides”, "between," "beyond," "but," "by," “by means of”, “concerning”, “considering”,"despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," “in addition to”, “in back of”, “in front of”, “in lieu of”, “in place of”, “in regard to”, "inside," “in spite of”, “instead of”, "into," “in view of”, "like," "near," “nearby”, “next to”, "of," "off," "on," “on account of”, "onto," “on top of”, “opposite”, "out," “out of”, "outside," “awing to”, "over," "past," “per”, “prior to”, “regarding”, “round”, "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," “together with”, "toward (s)," "under," "underneath," "until," “unto”, "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without."

Into vs. In to and Similar ProblemsMany words that are prepositions may be adverbs. This can be confusing when the prepostion to

follows on or in or when the preposition on follows up. The words into, onto, and upon followed by an object are prepositions. The pairs in to, on to, and up on followed by an object are each made up of an adverb followed

by a preposition. The meanings and the grammatical relationships are different from when they are single word prepositions.

Examples: He ran in to the building.(The adverb in modifies ran; to the building tells where he ran in.) He ran into the building.(He collided with the building; or, into the building tells us where he ran.) Up on the housetop, reindeer pause...(High on top of the house...) The toy fell upon the ground.(Here upon refers just to the relative relationship between the toy and the ground, it has nothing

to with height. Things seldom fall up...) The car turned onto Main Street.(The car turned; onto Main Street tells us where the car turned.) He turned on to Tchaikovsky.(The adverb on modifies turn; to Tchaikovsky tells us to whom he turned on.)

Prepositions of time: at two o'clock on Wednesday in an hour, in January; in 1992 for a day

Prepositions of place: at my house in New York, in my hand

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on the table near the library across the street under the bed between the books

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course six ─

THE CONJUNCTION

A conjunction is a word that connects other words or groups of words.  In the sentence: Bob and Dan are friends the conjunction and connects two nouns and in the sentence:  He will drive or fly,  the conjunction or connects two verbs.  In the sentence: It is early but we can go, the conjunction but connects two groups of words.

Conjunctions are words that join clauses into sentences.e.g. I went to bed early because I was extremely tired. (We have clause + conjunction + clause).Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions which connect two equal parts of a sentence.  The

most common ones are and, or, but, and so which are used in the following ways: ▬ and is used to join or add words together in the sentence: They ate and drank.

▬ or is used to show choice or possibilities as in the sentence: He will be here on Monday or Tuesday. ▬ but is used to show opposite or conflicting ideas as in the sentence: She is small but strong. ▬ so is used to show result as in the sentence: I was tired so I went to sleep.

Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence that are not equal and will be discussed more in another class.  For now, you should know some of the more common subordinating conjunctions such as:

after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, unless, until, when, where, whether, while.    

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together.  In the sentence: Both Jan and Meg are good swimmers, both . . .and are correlative conjunctions.  The most common correlative conjunctions are: both….. and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, not only . . . but also.

Some conjunctions are made up of two or more words:e. g. I stayed an extra night so that I could see Ann. Let me know the moment that you arrive.

Position of subordinate clausesAdverbial subordinating conjunctions and their clauses can usually go either first or last in a

sentence (depending on what is to be stressed).If you need help, just let me know.Just let me know, if you need help.Although the bicycle was expensive, she decided to buy it.She decided to buy the bicycle, although it was expensive.While I was having a shower, I slipped on the floor. I slipped on the floor, while I was having a shower.Because she was too angry to speak, Ann said nothing.

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Ann said nothing, because she was too angry to speak.

PunctuationCommas are often used to separate longer or more complicated clauses. Shorter pairs of clauses

are often connected without commas. Compare:I came home and the others went dancing.I decided to come home earlier than I had planned, and the others spent the evening at the local

disco.When a subordinate clause begins a sentence, it is more often separated by a comma, even it is

short. Compare:If you are passing, come in and see us. Come in and see us if you are passing.

Leaving words outWords for repeated ideas can often be left out in the second of two coordinate clauses, but not

normally in a subordinate clause. Compare:She was depressed and didn’t know what to do. (= and she didn’t know what to do)She was depressed, because she didn’t know what to do. (NOT She was depressed, because

didn’t know…)However, after if, when, while, until, once, unless and (al)though, a pronoun subject and the verb

be can often be dropped, especially in common fixed expressions like if necessary.I’ll pay for you if necessary. (= if it is necessary)If in doubt, wait and see. (= If you are in doubt…)When in Rome, do as Romans do.Cook slowly until ready.Once in bed, I read for twenty minutes and then turned out the light. Many conjunctions that express time relations (after, before, since, when, while, whenever, once

and until) can often be followed by -ing forms or past participles instead of subjects and full verbs. I always feel better after talking to you.Some things are never forgotten, once learnt.

Conjunctions in separate sentencesNormally a conjenction connects two clauses into one sentence. However, sometimes a

conjunction and its clause can stand alone. This happens, for example, in answers.“When are you going to get up?“ “When I’m ready“.“Why did you do that?“ “Because I felt like it“.“I’m goind out, Mum.“ “As soon as you’ve brushed your hair“.Writers and speakers can also separate clauses for emphasis.This government has got to go. Before it does any more damage. Afterthoughts may also begin with conjunctions.Oh I did it. But I didn’t mean to.

Problems with conjunctionsIn most languages of European origin, clauses are joined together by conjunctions in similar

ways. However, students who speak non-European languages may have some problems in using English conjunctions corectly.

1. One conjunction for two clausesOne conjunction is enogh to join two clauses – we do not normally use two.▬ Although she was tired, she went to work.She was tired but she went to work. (NOT Although she was tired but she went to work. )▬ Because I liked him, I tried to help him.

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I liked him, so I tried to help him. (NOT Because I liked him, so I tried to help him. )▬ As you know, I work very hard.You know that I work very hard. (NOT As you know, that I work very hard.)However, two can conjunctions come together when two subordinate clauses are connected with

co-ordinating conjunction.e. g. We came back because we ran out of money, and because Ann got ill. So and yet are like conjunctions in some ways, but they can be used together with and. e. g. I forgot to post the letter, and so she never heard about my divorce. He is not really nice-looking, and yet he has enormous charm.2. Relative pronouns are also conjunctions Relative pronouns (who, which and that) join clauses like conjunctions. e. g. There’s a girls who works with my sister. A relative pronoun is like the subject or object of the verb that comes after it. So we do not need

another subject or object.e. g. I’ve got a friend who works in a pub. (NOT …who he works in a pub.)The man (that) she married was an old friend of mine. (NOT The man that she married him…)She always thanks me for the money that I give her. (NOT …the money that I give her it.)3. That, where and whenThat is often used instead of which or who(m), but we do not usually use that instead of when

or where. e. g. August 31st is a national holiday, when everybody dances in the streets. (NOT…that

everybody dances…)The house where I live is very small. (NOT The house that I live is very small.)But that…in can mean the same as where.e. g. The house that I live in is very small. That can be used instead of where and when in a few special cases (e. g. after place, day).I’ll always remember the day (that)I met you.

Good to know about conjunctions…

Beginning a Sentence with And or ButA 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. (from The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield,Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996).

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.

Among the coordinating conjunctions, the most common, of course, are and, but, and or. It might be helpful to explore the uses of these three little words. The examples below by no means exhaust the possible meanings of these conjunctions.

A N D 1. To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to another: "Tashonda sent in her

applications and waited by the phone for a response." 2. To suggest that one idea is the result of another: "Willie heard the weather report and promptly

boarded up his house."

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3. 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.

4. 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."

5. 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."

6. To suggest a kind of "comment" on the first clause: "Charlie became addicted to gambling — and that surprised no one who knew him."

B U T 1. 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." 2. 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."

3. To connect two ideas with the meaning of "with the exception of" (and then the second word takes over as subject): "Everybody but Goldenbreath is trying out for the team."

O R 1. 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." 2. To suggest the inclusive combination of alternatives: "We can broil chicken on the grill

tonight, or we can just eat leftovers. 3. 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." 4. 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." 5. To suggest a negative condition: "The New Hampshire state motto is the rather grim "Live free

or die." 6. 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."

T h e O t h e r s . . .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 (see below):

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.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."

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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.

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.

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.

The Case of Then and ThanIn some parts of the United States, we are told, then and than not only look alike, they sound

alike. Like a teacher with twins in her classroom, you need to be able to distinguish between these two words; otherwise, they'll become mischievous. They are often used and they should be used for the right purposes.

Than is used to make comparisons. In the sentence "Piggy would rather be rescued then stay on the island," we have employed the wrong word because a comparison is being made between Piggy's two choices; we need than instead. In the sentence, "Other than Pincher Martin, Golding did not write another popular novel," the adverbial construction "other than" helps us make an implied comparison; this usage is perfectly acceptable in the United States but careful writers in the UK try to avoid it (Burchfield).

Generally, the only question about than arises when we have to decide whether the word is being used as a conjunction or as a preposition. If it's a preposition (and Merriam-Webster's dictionary provides for this usage), then the word that follows it should be in the object form.

He's taller and somewhat more handsome than me. Just because you look like him doesn't mean you can play better than him. Most careful writers, however, will insist that than be used as a conjunction; it's as if part of the

clause introduced by than has been left out: He's taller and somewhat more handsome than I [am handsome]. You can play better than he [can play].In formal, academic text, you should probably use than as a conjunction and follow it with the

subject form of a pronoun (where a pronoun is appropriate). Then is a conjunction, but it is not one of the little conjunctions listed at the top of this page. We

can use the FANBOYS conjunctions to connect two independent clauses; usually, they will be accompanied (preceded) by a comma. Too many students think that then works the same way: "Caesar invaded Gaul, then he turned his attention to England." You can tell the difference between then and a coordinating conjunction by trying to move the word around in the sentence. We can write "he then turned his attention to England"; "he turned his attention, then, to England"; he turned his attention to

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England then." The word can move around within the clause. Try that with a conjunction, and you will quickly see that the conjunction cannot move around. "Caesar invaded Gaul, and then he turned his attention to England." The word and is stuck exactly there and cannot move like then, which is more like an adverbial conjunction (or conjunctive adverb — see below) than a coordinating conjunction. Our original sentence in this paragraph — "Caesar invaded Gaul, then he turned his attention to England" — is a comma splice, a faulty sentence construction in which a comma tries to hold together two independent clauses all by itself: the comma needs a coordinating conjunction to help out, and the word then simply doesn't work that way.

The Case of Like and AsStrictly 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. Johnson 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 ThatThe 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

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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.

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course seven ─

THE INTERJECTION

The interjection is the eighth of the eight parts of speech (noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection).

An interjection is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence and simply expresses emotion on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definitions. Filled pauses such as uh, er, um, are also considered interjections. Interjections are intergections were invented in 1947 that cause these emotions — unexpectedly, painfully, surprisingly, or in many other sudden ways. However, several languages have interjections that cannot be related to emotions.

The word "interjection" literally means "thrown in between" from the Latin inter ("between") and iacere ("throw").

Interjections are words used to express strong feeling or sudden emotion. They are included in a sentence.Usually at the start to express a sentiment such as suprise, disgust, joy, excitement or enthusiasm.

Interjection is a big name for a little word. Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah! They have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing. When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written.

Interjections like er and um are also known as "hesitation devices". They are extremely common in English. People use them when they don't know what to say, or to indicate that they are thinking about what to say. You should learn to recognize them when you hear them and realize that they have no real meaning.

Examples:Hey! Get off that floor!Oh, that is a surprise.Good! Now we can move on.Jeepers, that was close.Introductory expressions such as "yes", "no", "indeed" and "well" are also classed as

interjections.

Examples:Indeed, this is not the first time the stand has collapsed.Yes, I do intend to honour the bet.

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Some interjections are sounds:

Examples:Phew! I am not trying that again. Humph! I knew that last week. Mmmm, my compliments to the chef.

Another common use of interjections is to signal the resumption of discourse, or as filler, to make a more comfortable transition to the speaker's (or writer's) next point. 

President Reagan was famous for beginning his debate responses with the interjection "Well.""Well" is also often used in today's notably ironic discourse to signal that something is ─ or at

least it should be ─ self-evident.  For example, "Young people resent being bossed around by anyone, even if that person happens to be their ─ well, their boss."

Another interjection often used ironically to signal that something should be obvious is "Duh!" "Um" is sometimes used this way, too, although its effect is gentler, "Um, did you happen to bring a check for the money you promised to pay back today?"

 The following list includes some of the most commonly used interjections in English, though many of them are decidedly archaic and therefore seldom used these days except in jest: ah,aha,ahoy,alas,amen,ay,bah,behold,boo,bravo,duh,encore,fie,good,goodness,gosh,great,hah,hello,here,hey,ho,hmm,huh,humph,hurrah,hush,indeed,lo,now,O,oh,oops,ouch,pshaw,so,there,tush,tut,ugh,well,what,whoa,whoopee,whoops,why,um,yay, yes, yo.

Several English interjections contain sounds that do not, or very rarely, exist in regular English phonological inventory.

Ahem ("attention!") contains a glottal stop that is common in German. Shh ("quiet!") is an entirely consonantal syllable. Ps [ps] ("here!"), also spelled psst, is another entirely consonantal syllable-word, and its

consonant cluster does not occur initially in regular English words. Tut-tut ("shame..."), also spelled tsk-tsk, is made up entirely of clicks, which are an active part of

regular speech in several African languages. This particular click is dental. There is also a less popular pronunciation [tʌt tʌt]. Ugh [ʌx] ("disgusting!") ends with a Spanish and Gaelic consonant, a velar fricative. Whew/Phew ("what a relief!") starts with a bilabial fricative, a sound pronounced with a strong

puff of air through the lips. This sound is a common phoneme in such languages as Suki (a language of New Guinea) and Ewe and Logba (both spoken in Ghana).

Gah ("Gah, there's nothing to do!"), pronounced how it is spelled, ends with [h], which does not occur with regular English words.

Yeah [jæ] ("yes") ends with the short vowel [æ], which is not permitted in regular English words.

PunctuationAn interjection can be followed by either a comma or an exclamation mark.  A comma is used for

a mild interjection; whereas, an exclamation mark is used for a more abrupt display of surprise, emotion or deep feeling.

Hurry!  The bus is about to leave!Jeepers! That is the largest beetle I have ever seen.No, I'm not going tomorrow night.Well, the larva moves more quickly than you would expect.Absolutely, a fifth of them do not count. Very often (as in the first example above), an interjection with an exclamation mark is followed

by a sentence with an exclamation mark.

Remember about interjections!

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Interjections are exclamations – attention getters. They're used to make someone notice them and to show excitement. They are usually followed by and exclamation point (!) or sometimes a comma.

Nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs become interjections when they are uttered as exclamations, as, Nonsense! Strange! Hail! Away! etc.

There is very little use for interjections in written communication, especially in expository writing.

Interjections are rarely used in formal or academic writing.

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course eight ─

THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence.A relative pronoun links two clauses into a single complex clause. To this extent, it is similar in

function to a subordinating conjunction. Unlike a conjunction, however, a relative pronoun stands in place of a noun. The gender of the relative pronoun is determined by the gender of the word to which it refers, and its case is determined by its function in the relative clause. Relative clauses use dependent word order. Compare:

(1) This is a house. Jack built this house. (2) This is the house that Jack built. Sentence (2) consists of two clauses, a main clause (This is the house) and a relative clause (that

Jack built). The word that is a relative pronoun. Within the relative clause, the relative pronoun stands for the noun phrase it references in the main clause, which is one of the arguments of the verb in the relative clause. In the example, the argument is the house, the direct object of built.

Other arguments can be relativised using relative pronouns:Subject: Jack is the boy who kissed Jenny. Indirect object: Jack is the boy that Jenny gave a gift to. Adpositional complement: Jack built the house in which I now live. Possessor: Jack is the boy whose friend built my house. Not all languages have relative pronouns. Those that do tend to use words which originally had

other functions; for example, the English which is also an interrogative word. This suggests that relative pronouns might be a fairly late development in many languages.

Relative pronouns may or may not agree with the antecedent. In Spanish, for example, some relative pronouns agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. In English, different pronouns are sometimes used if the antecedent is a human being, as opposed to a non-human or an inanimate object (as in who/that). In some languages, the relative pronoun is an invariable word.

Relative pronouns are that, who, whom, whose, which, where, when, and why. They are also used to join clauses in between to make a complex sentence. Relative pronouns are used at the beginning of the subordinate clause which gives some specific information about the main clause.

This is the house that Jack built. I don't know the day when Jane marries him. Mike never tells me where he is going. In English, the choice of the relative pronoun depends on the type of clause it is used in. There

are two types of clauses distinguished: defining (restrictive) relative clauses and non-defining (non-restrictive) relative clauses. In both types of clauses the relative pronoun can function as a subject, an object, or a possessive.

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Relative pronouns in defining clausesDefining relative clauses (also known as restrictive relative clauses) provide some essential

information that explains the main clause. The information is crucial for understanding the sentence correctly and cannot be omitted. Defining clauses are opened by a relative pronoun and ARE NOT separated by a comma from the main clause.

Whom:In American English, whom is not used very often. Whom is more formal than who and is very

often omitted in speech:The woman (whom) you have just talked to is my teacher. (Note that who is also possible here)However, whom may not be omitted if followed by a preposition:I have found you the tutor for whom you were looking.Relative pronoun used as a possessive:Whose is the only possessive relative pronoun is in English. It can be used with both people and

things:The family whose house burnt in the fire was immediately given a suite in a hotel. The book whose author is now being shown in the news has become a bestseller.

Good to Know!!!!!One of the most frequently asked questions about grammar is about choosing between the various

forms of the pronoun who: who, whose, whom, whoever, whomever. The number (singular or plural) of the pronoun (and its accompanying verbs) is determined by what the pronoun refers to; it can refer to a singular person or a group of people:

The person who hit my car should have to pay to fix the damages. The people who have been standing in line the longest should get in first.It might be useful to compare the forms of who to the forms of the pronouns he and they. Their

forms are similar:

Subject Form Possessive Form

Object Form

Singular He who His whose Him whomPlural They who Their whose Them whom

To choose correctly among the forms of who, re-phrase the sentence so you choose between he and him. If you want him, write whom; if you want he, write who.

Who do you think is responsible? (Do you think he is responsible?) Whom shall we ask to the party? (Shall we ask him to the party?) Give the box to whomever you please. (Give the box to him.) Give the box to whoever seems to want it most. (He seems to want it most. [And then the clause

"whoever seems to want it most" is the object of the preposition "to."]) Whoever shows up first will win the prize. (He shows up first.) The number of people who use "whom" and "who" wrongly is appalling. The problem is a

difficult one and it is complicated by the importance of tone, or taste. Take the common expression, "Whom are you, anyways?" That is of course, strictly speaking, correct — and yet how formal, how stilted! The usage to be preferred in ordinary speech and writing is "Who are you, anyways?" "Whom" should be used in the nominative case only when a note of dignity or austerity is desired. For example, if a writer is dealing with a meeting of, say, the British Cabinet, it would be better to have the Premier greet a new arrival, such as an under-secretary, with a "Whom are you, anyways?" rather than a "Who are you, anyways?" — always granted that the Premier is sincerely unaware of the man's identity. To address a person one knows by a "Whom are you?" is a mark either of incredible lapse of memory or inexcusable arrogance. "How are you?" is a much kindlier salutation.

James ThurberLadies' and Gentlemen's Guide to Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, 2007

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The only problem most writers have with whose is confusing it with who's, which looks like a possessive but is really the contraction for who is. In the same way that we should not confuse his with he's (the contraction for he is or he has), we should not confuse whose with who's.

Who's that walking down the street? Whose coat is this? I don't care whose paper this is. It's brilliant!Whose can be used to refer to inanimate objects as well as to people (although there is a kind of

folk belief that it should refer only to humans and other mammals): "I remember reading a book — whose title I can't recall right now — about a boy and a basenji."

General remarks: That, Who, Which comparedThe relative pronoun that can only be used in defining clauses. It can also be substituted for who

(referring to persons) or which (referring to things). That is often used in speech; who and which are more common in written English.

William Kellogg was the man that lived in the late 19th century and had some weird ideas about raising children. - spoken, less formal

William Kellogg was the man who lived in the late 19th century and had some weird ideas about raising children. - written, more formal

Although your computer may suggest to correct it, referring to things, which may be used in the defining clause to put additional emphasis on the explanation. Again, the sentence with which is more formal than the one with that: Note that since it is the defining clause, there is NO comma used preceding which:

The café that sells the best coffee in town has recently been closed. - less formal The café which sells the best coffee in town has recently been closed. - more formal

Some special uses of relative pronouns in defining clauses

That / WhoReferring to people, both that and who can be used. That may be used to referring to someone in

general:He is the kind of person that/who will never let you down. I am looking for someone that/who could give me a ride to Chicago. However, when a particular person is being spoken about, who is preferred:The old lady who lives next door is a teacher. The girl who wore a red dress attracted everybody's attention at the party.

That / WhichThere several cases when that is more appropriate than and is preferred to which: 1. After the pronouns all, any(thing), every(thing), few, little, many, much, no(thing), none,

some(thing):The police usually ask for every detail that helps identify the missing person. - that used as the

subject Marrying a congressman is all (that) she wants. - that used as the object

2. After verbs that answer the question WHAT? For example, say, suggest, state, declare, hope, think, write, etc. In this case, the whole relative clause functions as the object of the main clause:

Some people say (that) success is one percent of talent and ninety-nine percent of hard work. The chairman stated at the meeting (that) his company is part of a big-time entertainment

industry.

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3. After the noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree: This is the funniest story (that) I have ever read! - that used as the object 4. After ordinal numbers, e.g., first, second, etc.:The first draft (that) we submitted was really horrible. - that used as the object 5. If the verb in the main clause is a form of BE: This is a claim that has absolutely no reason in it. - that used as the subject

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course nine ─

THE PERSONAL AND REFLEXIVE PRONOUNSAnyone who has studied Latin, German, Russian, or a host of other languages knows how to

decline a noun, pronoun, or adjective. In many languages, these types of words are inflected to signify the purpose they serve in a sentence or phrase. Words requiring inflections, in all their varying forms, are called declensions. To decline a noun, pronoun, or adjective is to list all the inflected forms of the word.

When a word is inflected, its form changes slightly, depending on how it is used. Most often, the ending of the word varies to reflect its function as the subject, direct object, or other part of a sentence or phrase. For example, when Julius Caesar addresses Brutus as Brute in the often quoted line from Shakespeare's play, "Et tu, Brute," he is using not a nickname, but an inflected form of the name that is required by Latin when speaking directly to people.

Although most speakers of English are unaware of it, English also has declensions. The roots of English are in the Germanic languages, and Old English, like modern German, required different forms of its nouns, depending on how they were used. Over the centuries, the grammar of the language has become simpler, so that today the only variations of most English nouns are the singular, plural, and possessive. We no longer have to worry about the nominative, accusative, dative, or other forms of nouns. Adjectives no longer have any inflected forms at all.

There is one area, however, where more complex inflections are still required. English personal pronouns have three inflections related to the purpose they serve in a sentence or phrase: nominative, accusative, and possessive. For the first person singular, these are I, me, and mine, respectively. The nominative form is used when the pronoun is the subject of a sentence, representing a person or thing carrying out an action. The accusative form is used when the pronoun is the object of a sentence or a preposition, representing a person or thing that is affected by an action.

Sometimes we confuse the subject and object forms of the personal pronouns. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that over the centuries, the rules have been relaxed so that in some places where the nominative form is appropriate, the accusative form is used. For example, so few people say, "It is I," that "It is me," has become acceptable. Another reason is that the second person singular and plural (you) and the third person singular neuter (it) have the same form for both the subject and the object. It is not always easy to tell whether you goes with I or with me. Finally, it is rare these days for children to receive a complete explanation of the inflections of English personal pronouns.

One result of this confusion is that we increasingly hear people say "Between you and I," instead of "Between you and me." That the former is a problem is evident if we replace you and I with the equivalent form of the first person plural, we. Nobody ever says "Between we." Many years ago, students were warned against using this construction. It was called hyper-correction because many people incorrectly applied the only rule they remembered from grammar classes: "You should say, 'It is I,' not 'It's me.'"

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We do not see incorrectly inflected personal pronouns as often in writing as we hear them in speech, although this fact may owe more to the diligence of editors than it does to the care of writers. In any case, you should take care to use the appropriate form for the personal pronouns you use in your writing.

Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text.

Personal pronouns stand in the place of nouns, and are normally used to refer back to someone or something that has been mentioned earlier.

The personal pronouns of English can have various forms according to gender, number, person, and case. Modern English is a language with very little inflection, to the point where some authors describe it as analytic, but its system of personal pronouns has preserved part of the inflectional complexity of Old English.

Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they. These forms are called cases.

Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural). Each person can change form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes "me" when used as an object ("She left me") and "my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car"); "they" becomes "them" in object form ("I like them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their way").

When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me."

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Reflexive PronounsA reflexive pronoun is a special kind of pronoun. It is usually used when the object of a sentence

is the same as the subject, as you will see below. Each personal pronoun (I, you, she, etc.) has its own reflexive form.

An reflexive pronoun "reflects" a noun or pronoun by taking the place of its antecedent when the noun or pronoun is doing something to itself.

The reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting themselves. You paid yourself a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct.

Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary. The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier, more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.

Bob and myself I are responsible for this decision. These decisions will be made by myself me. If you have any questions, please contact myself me or Bob Jones. When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person:Juanita, Carlos, and I have deceived ourselves into believing in my uncle.or, when there is no first person, the second person:You and Carlos have deceived yourselves.The indefinite pronoun one has its own reflexive form ("One must have faith in oneself."), but the

other indefinite pronouns use either himself or themselves as reflexives. (It is probably better to pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.

No one here can blame himself or herself. The people here cannot blame themselves.

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE

CEPA─ Course ten ─

THE INDEFINITE AND NEGATIVE PRONOUNS

The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one) do not substitute for specific nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone is wondering if any is left.)

One of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact that "everybody" feels as though it refers to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb. (Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of this word as meaning "every single body," the confusion usually disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or plural, depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning "not any") except when something else in the sentence makes us regard it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None of the food is fresh." Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it refers to something countable or noncountable.

The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, no one, and nobody are always singular. This is sometimes perplexing to writers who feel that everyone and everybody (especially) are referring to more than one person. The same is true of either and neither, which are always singular even though they seem to be referring to two things.

There are other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners:

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enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any, either, neither, none, some

Few will be chosen; fewer will finish. Little is expected.The Uses of One

As a determiner, the word one is sometimes used before a proper noun to designate, particularly, this person: "He delivered the package to one Ronald Pepin of Colchester." The article "a" will also function in that position for the same purpose.

Sometimes we use the word one as an adjective, as in "I'll have just one scoop of ice-cream," and we seldom have trouble with that usage. But we also use one as a pronoun, and this is where one becomes surprisingly complex.

Sometimes the pronoun one functions as a numerical expression: Those are lovely scarves. I think I'll buy one. One is hardly enough. One is purple, the other green. The three brothers get along quite well; in fact they adore one another. One of the senators will lead the group to the front of the capitol. The yellow car is fast, but I think the blue one will win.As a pronoun, one can also function in an impersonal, objective manner, standing for the writer

or for all people who are like the writer or for the average person or for all people who belong to a class. In the United States, one sometimes has a literary or highfalutin feel to it; the more it is used, the more pretentious it feels. In British English, the use of the impersonal or generic one is more commonplace and has no such stigma. In the U.S., one is often replaced by you.

One would think the airlines would have to close down. One would [You'd] think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. The young comedian was awful; one felt embarrassed for him. If one fails, then one must try harder next time.When the pronoun one is used in the numerical sense, a different pronoun can be used in a

subsequent reference. We watched as one [of the ospreys] dried its feathers in the sun. One [driver] pulled her car over to the side.However, it is generally regarded as a bad idea to mix the impersonal or generic pronoun one

with another pronoun, especially in the same sentence, as in "If one fails, then he/you must simply try harder."

One's Reflexive and Possessive FormsIn the United States, the possessive and reflexive forms of one — one's and oneself — are often

replaced by other pronoun forms. In British English, they are commonplace: One must be conscientious about one's dental hygiene.In the U.S. that one's is apt to be replaced by a third-person "his" or (more informally) a second-

person "your": One must learn from one's [or his] mistakes. One must be conscientious about one's [or his] dental hygiene. One must be conscientious about your dental hygiene.In formal writing, the use of your in that last sentence — in either American or British English —

would be regarded as too casual or even sub-standard. On the other hand, the problem with using "his" is obvious: it runs counter to the tendency to remove gender bias from one's language as much as possible. Thus, even in Am. English, this mixture of "one" with "he/his/him" is slowly disappearing.

Oneself is used in formal writing and speech as the proper reflexive form of one: If one slipped on this icy walk, one could hurt oneself badly.Notice there is usually no apostrophe used in the spelling of oneself. The construction one's self is

used to refer to the concept of self (in psychology, for instance): "One's self, according to Freud, is defined by the interactions of the id, the ego, and the super-ego."

The Plural of OneAs a singular numerical pronoun, we don't have trouble with one: "Those donuts look delicious; I

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think I'll pick this one." But what if I want two donuts? It is possible, sometimes, to pluralize one: I really like the chocolate ones. The ones with chocolate frosting have cream fillings. Are these the ones you want? Do you want these ones?When the word ones is preceded by a plural determiner (like these), we usually drop the ones and

the determiner turns into a demonstrative pronoun: "Do you want these?"The phrases "one in [plural number]" and "more than one" always take a singular verb: One in four dentists recommends this toothpaste. One out of every five instructors gets this question wrong. There is more than one reason for this. More than one lad has lost his heart to this lass.The "one" in the phrase "more than one" apparently controls the number of the verb. It is

probably wise not to attempt to divine some of the mysteries of the English language.One of those [plural noun] that is/are …

"One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so," goes the old Christmas song, but the fact that the singular one needs a singular verb can lead to confusion. In Burchfield's New Fowlers, (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996) we find this example:

"Don't you think," he said, "that Hawaii is one of those places that was always better in the past." Burchfield adds, "A plural verb in the subordinate clause is recommended unless particular

attention is being drawn to the uniqueness, individuality, etc., of the one in the opening clause." In an earlier note, Burchfield writes: "Exceptions [to the rule that we use the plural verb] occur when the writer or speaker presumably regards one as governing the verb in the subordinate clause," and he gives another two or three examples, including "I am one of those people who wants others to do what I think they should."

The indefinite "one" is another source of trouble and is frequently the cause of disagreeable scenes. Such a sentence as "One loves one's friends" is considered by some persons to be stilted and over-formalized, and such persons insist that "One loves his friends" is permissible. It is not permissible, however, because "one" is indefinite and "his" is definite and the combination is rhetorically impossible. This is known as hendiadys and was a common thing in Latin. Rare examples of it still exist and are extremely valuable as antiques, although it is usually unsafe to sit or lie down on one. (James Thurber, Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Guide to Modern English Usage)

Negative PronounsA pronoun usually refers to something already mentioned in a sentence or piece of text. A

pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase used to prevent repetition of the noun to which they refer. One of the most common pronouns is it.

A pronoun that indicates the absence of people or other entities is called negative pronoun. In English, the negative pronouns are "neither," "nobody," "none," "no one" and "nothing." English example: Nobody thinks that.

In English there are expressions which have a double form according to whether they are used alone or with a negative conjunction. For instance, the two sentences there was nothing and there wasn't anything have the same meaning, although two different adverbs, nothing and anything, have to be used. The same pattern occurs for nobody ~ anybody, never ~ ever, nowhere ~ anywhere and so on.Instead in Italian the equivalent adverbs have only one form, which is the negative one (i.e. they match nothing, nobody, nowhere, etc.).Negative indefinite pronouns like 'nobody', 'nothing', 'nowhere' may or may not co-occur with the ordinary marker of predicate negation. Some linguists feel that English nobody is "inherently negative", while anybody, which co-occurs with predicate negation (as in I did not see anybody), is not "inherently negative".

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When we speak about negation or ways of expressing a negative discourse we discover some problems and see that even the linguists that studied English’s different ways of expressing negation have some doubts concerning this issue.

Although the logical, grammatical, and semantic features of negation have been the object of discussion for decades, little attention has been paid to the pragmatic functions of negation in fictional discourse. Thus, few studies have been carried out on negation as a feature of variation, and virtually none on negation as a stylistic feature in fictional discourse. However, the enormous influence of quantitative studies in discourse analysis and pragmatics as fields of research has also had its effects on studies in stylistics. Thus, studies on variation in English text types standardly include references to fictional discourse and some monographs have been devoted to the quantification of linguistic information in literary texts. Unfortunately, quantitative studies on negation in English are not numerous, and among the few that can be pointed to.

All grammarians interested in negative polarity are fully aware that there are still unresolved issues to be explored, such as the pragmatics of negation in both speech and writing, the constrast between no and not negation (as in they didn’t see anybody vs. they saw nobody), the opposition between affixal and non affixal negation (as in He is not happy vs. he is unhappy), the nature and syntactic features of negative polarity items (npi’s), negative raising, negative transfer or not-transportation (as in Peter does not think Paul is coming to the party), problems related to the scope of negation with quantifiers (All the boys did not come is either paraphrased “Not all the boys came—but some did” or “None of the boys came”), negation and idiomaticity (as in Dont’t put the cart before the horse; no gain without pain), the acquisition of negation in both native and second/foreign language, double and multiple negation (as in I didn’t do nothing no more; It is not an insignificant issue), the features of negation associated with a particular genre and register, and so this list could go on and on.

The expression of negation in present-day English has been found to vary with lexicalsyntagmatic and contextual features. While not negation (in full or contracted form) dominates in both spoken and written registers, the use of no negation is proportionally greater in writing, in keeping with its being the older form.

Affixal negation (negation indicated by affixation) and no-negation (synthetic negation) are more frequent in written texts, while non-affixal negation and not-negation (analytic negation) are more frequent in spoken varieties. Negation is the marked term in the polarity system not only for morphological, structural, and diachronic reasons, but also for cognitive-pragmatic reasons.

Negation is used in discourse when an expectation is defeated and is thus more informative than the affirmative. Negation makes non-events and non-states more salient than events and states and is thus a natural foregrounding device.

Teacher: Oana STANCULESCU ILIE ─ Course eleven ─

CEPATHE NUMERAL

The term numeral can refer to:In mathematics, a mathematical notation for writing numbers. In linguistics, the words or symbols used to represent numbers.Numeral" is the sentence element used to express an abstract numerical value, a numerical

determination. Perhaps the most common way to express quantity is to use a numeral.In most grammar books the numeral is not considered a morphologic sentence element per se.

Various categories of numerals are labeled "adjectives", "adverbs", and even "pronouns". Because they are not explained as they should, a lot of people have troubles using and

understanding numerals. One of the most frequent mistake is, TV anchors using the value of billion instead of million and vice versa. People with little or no education use the letter "O" to name the numeric symbol of "0" (zero). They are 2 different symbols! Excepting a vague similarity in form, a letter is a letter while a number (numeral) is a number.

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The level of development a Civilization has is perfectly reflected by its knowledge in using numerals. Even more, the numeral was one of the most important factors which have determined the apparition of any language, anywhere. Not only the numeral is a perfectly defined morphologic category, but using it appropriately is of capital importance in any language, in any Civilization, forever!

Few major categories of numerals are:1. cardinal numerals 2. ordinal numerals 3. fractional numerals 4. collective numerals 5.

distributive numerals 6. multiplicative numerals 7. adverbial numerals 8. indefinite numerals 9. technical numerals 10. roman numerals

Cardinal numerals express integer (whole) abstract numbers or the number/amount of the determined nouns in literal form.

CARDINAL NUMERALS 

Mathematical form Literal form

0 zero; naught; null

1 one

2 two

3 three

10 ten

11 eleven

12 twelve

13 thirteen

24 twenty-four

67 sixty-seven

589 five hundred eighty-nine

310 533three hundred ten thousand five hundred thirty-three

1 000 000 one/a million

1 000 000 000 one/a billion

1 000 000 000 000 one/a trillion

Cardinal numerals may also be:1. adjectives2. nouns3. numeral "one" can also be a pronoun

Ordinal NumeralsOrdinal numeral is used to express the order in a series.

ORDINAL NUMERALS 

Mathematical form/position Literal expression

1st first

2nd second

3rd third

4th fourth

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5th fifth

11th eleventh

12th twelfth

13th thirteenth

20th twentieth

21st twenty-first

32nd thirty-second

73rd seventy-third

89th eighty-ninth

137th one hundred thirty-seventh

Ordinal numerals may also work as:1. adjectives2. nouns3. adverbs

FRACTIONAL NUMERALS

Fractional numeral is used to express parts of a whole. Commonly, it takes two forms:1. Common Fraction:Form: Wholes + Numerator/Denominator1 2/3     = one (whole) and/plus two thirdsNote the "s" added to the denominator "thirds".2. Decimal Numbers:12.15     = twelve fifteen, or twelve point fifteen

TECHNICAL NUMERALSTechnical numeral is a new addition due to technological development. few of the most

common forms are presented in the following table:

SCIENTIFIC NUMERALS 

Number Notation (symbol) Name

10-12 = 0.000 000 000 001 p pico

10-9 = 0.000 000 001 n mano

10-6 = 0.000 001 μ or u micro

10-3 = 0.001 m milli

103 = 1000 K kilo

106 = 1 000 000 M mega

109 = 1 000 000 000 G giga

1012 = 1 000 000 000 000 T terra

Don’t FORGET!!!!!How do you express numbers in your writing? When do you use figures (digits) and when

do you write out the number in words (letters)? That is, when do you write 9 and when do you write nine?

1. Number versus numeral. First things first, what is the difference between a number and a numeral? A number is an abstract concept while a numeral is a symbol used to express that

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number. “Three,” “3″ and “III” are all symbols used to express the same number (or the concept of “threeness”). One could say that the difference between a number and its numerals is like the difference between a person and her name.

2. Spell small numbers out. The small numbers, such as whole numbers smaller than ten, should be spelled out. That’s one rule you can count on. If you don’t spell numbers out it will look like you’re sending an instant message, and you want to be more formal than that in your writing.

3. No other standard rule: Experts don’t always agree on other rules. Some experts say that any one-word number should be written out. Two-word numbers should be expressed in figures. That is, they say you should write out twelve or twenty. But not 24.

4. Using the comma. In English, the comma is used as a thousands separator (and the period as a decimal separator), to make large numbers easier to read. So write the size of Alaska as 571,951 square miles instead of 571951 square miles. In Continental Europe the opposite is true, periods are used to separate large numbers and the comma is used for decimals. Finally, the International Systems of Units (SI) recommends that a space should be used to separate groups of three digits, and both the comma and the period should be used only to denote decimals, like $13 200,50 (the comma part is a mess… I know).

5. Don’t start a sentence with a numeral. Make it “Fourscore and seven years ago,” not “4 score and 7 years ago.” That means you might have to rewrite some sentences: “Fans bought 400,000 copies the first day” instead of “400,000 copies were sold the first day.”

6. Centuries and decades should be spelled out. Use the Eighties or nineteenth century.

7. Percentages and recipes. With everyday writing and recipes you can use digits, like “4% of the children” or “Add 2 cups of brown rice.” In formal writing, however, you should spell the percentage out like “12 percent of the players” (or “twelve percent of the players,” depending on your preference as explained in point three).

8. If the number is rounded or estimated, spell it out. Rounded numbers over a million are written as a numeral plus a word. Use “About 400 million people speak Spanish natively,” instead of “About 400,000,000 people speak Spanish natively.” If you’re using the exact number, you’d write it out, of course.

9. Two numbers next to each other. It can be confusing if you write “7 13-year-olds”, so write one of them as a numeral, like “seven 13-year-olds”. Pick the number that has the fewest letters.

10. Ordinal numbers and consistency. Don’t say “He was my 1st true love,” but rather “He was my first true love.” Be consistent within the same sentence. If my teacher has 23 beginning students, she also has 18 advanced students, not eighteen advanced students.

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