Understanding Grammar

UNDERSTANDING PRESENT--DAY
GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH
UNDERSTANDING PRESENT--DAY
GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH
For the Non-native Speakers.
Kasimawo R. St e phe n
Inde pe nde nt l y P ubl i s he d

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system or be transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other – without
the prior written permission of the author.
©2015 Kasimawo R. Stephen
ISBN: 9781521495124
KASIMAWO Ramoni Stephen

BA (Hons) Eng. (LASU), PG Dip TESL, MA Eng. (BUK)
+234 803 802 3957 kasimawo.stephen@gmail.com
Other books by the author:
English for Professional Journalism and Advance Communication

A Handbook of Contemporary Communication Skills in English
Business & Corporate Communication: A Study Guide in Business English
Understanding Present-Day Use of English: A Course Text for Tertiary
Schools
Inde pe nde nt l y P ubl i s he d

Amazo n.c o m Inc .
This is delightfully dedicated unto the Creator of heaven and earth, the LORD
GOD ALMIGHTY; the source, owner, giver and keeper of knowledge, and my
GOD.
Rinnah and Abiel are always wonderful! All my inspirers are profoundly
appreciated.
CONTENTS PAGE
CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION GRAMMAR
1.1 Grammar ----- 1

1.1.1 The Morpheme ----- 2
1.1.1.1 Classes of the Morpheme ----- 3
1.1.1.2 Affixation Derivation ----- 4
1.1.2 The Word ----- 7
1.1.2.1 Word Formation Processes ----- 7
1.2 Classes and Functions ----- 11
CHAPTER TWO: THE ENGLISH NOUN
2.1 Noun ----- 13

2.2 Classes of Noun ----- 14
2.2.1 Proper Nouns ----- 14
2.2.1.1 Guidelines on the Use of Proper Nouns -----
14
2.2.2 Common Nouns ----- 16
2.2.2.1 Count Nouns ----- 16
2.2.2.2 Mass Nouns ----- 16
2.2.3 Concrete and Abstract Nouns ----- 17
2.2.4 Collective Nouns ----- 17
2.2.5 Gerunds ----- 18
2.3 Identifying the English Noun ----- 18
2.4 Modifying the English Noun ----- 19
2.4.1 Modifying the English Noun Using Determiners -----
19
2.4.1.1 The English Articles as Modifiers ----- 19
2.4.1.2 Quantifiers / Partitives as Modifiers ----- 22
2.4.1.3 Modifying Nouns Using Ordinals ----- 27
2.4.1.4 Modifying Nouns Using Epithet (Adjectives) -----
27
2.4.1.5 Modifying Nouns Using Nouns ----- 28
2.5 The English Noun Systems ----- 28
2.5.1 The Plural System of the English Noun -----
28
2.5.2 The Possessive System of the English Noun -----
34
2.6 Conclusion ----- 38
CHAPTER THREE: THE ENGLISH PRONOUN
3.1 Pronoun ----- 37

3.2 Classes of Pronoun ----- 37
3.2.1 Personal, Possessive, and Reflexive Pronouns -----
37
3.2.2 Relative Pronouns ----- 43
3.2.3 Interrogative Pronouns ----- 44
3.2.4 Demonstrative Pronouns ----- 45
3.2.5 Summative Pronouns ----- 46
3.2.6 Reciprocal Pronouns ----- 48
CHAPTER FOUR: THE ENGLISH VERB
4.1 Verb ----- 49

4.2 Classes of Verb ----- 49
4.2.1 The Auxiliary Verbs ----- 49
4.2.1.1 Primary Auxiliary Verbs ----- 50
4.2.1.2 Modal Auxiliary Verbs ----- 52
4.2.1.2.1 The Use of the Modal Auxiliary Verbs -----
52
4.2.1.3 The Catenative Verb ----- 55
4.2.2 The Lexical/Main Verb ----- 56
4.2.2.1 Morphological Characteristics of the Lexical Verb -----
56
4.2.2.2 Participles ----- 58
4.2.2.3 The Subjunctive ----- 59
4.2.2.4 Finiteness ----- 60
4.2.2.5 Transitivity ----- 61
4.2.2.6 Voice ----- 61
4.2.2.7 Time, Tense, and Aspect ----- 63
4.2.2.7.1 The Past Tense ----- 63
4.2.2.7.2 The Present Tense ----- 65
4.2.2.7.3 The Future Tense ----- 67
4.2.4 Special Verbs: Verbs of Perception ----- 68
CHAPTER FIVE: THE ENGLISH ADJECTIVE & ADVERB
5.1 The English Adjectives ----- 71

5.1.1 Morphology of the English Adjective ----- 72
5.2 The English Adverbs ----- 73
CHAPTER SIX: THE ENGLISH PREPOSITION & CONJUNCTION
6.1 The English Preposition ----- 77

6.1.1 Guidelines on the Use of ‘in’ as a Preposition ----
- 78
6.1.1.1 Guidelines on the Use of ‘in’ as an Adverb -----
80
6.1.2 Guidelines on the Use of ‘on’ as a Preposition -----
81
6.1.2.1 Guidelines on the Use of ‘on’ as an Adverb -----
84
6.1.3 Guidelines on the Use of ‘at’ as a Preposition -----
86
6.1.4 Guidelines on the Use of ‘to’ as a Preposition -----
88
6.1.4.1 Guidelines on the Use of ‘to’ as Infinitive Marker ----
- 90
6.1.4.2 Guidelines on the Use of ‘to’ as an Adverb -----
91
6.1.5 Guidelines on the Use of ‘from’ as a Preposition -----
91
6.1.6 Guidelines on the Use of ‘with’ ----- 92
6.1.7 Guidelines on the Use of ‘by’ ----- 94
6.1.8 Guidelines on the Use of ‘off’ as a Preposition -----
96
6.1.8.1 Guidelines on the Use of ‘off’ as an Adjective -----
97
6.1.8.2 Guidelines on the Use of ‘off’ as an Adverb -----
97
6.1.9 Guidelines on the Use of ‘of’ as a Preposition -----
98
6.2 The English Conjunction ----- 100
6.2.1 Classes of Conjunction ----- 101
6.2.1.1 Coordinate Conjunctions ----- 101
6.2.1.2 Subordinate Conjunctions ----- 102
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ENGLISH GROUP & PHRASE
7.1 The Group & Phrase ----- 105

7.2 Classes of Group ----- 106
7.2.1 The Nominal Group ----- 106
7.2.2 The Verbal Group ----- 108
7.2.3 The Adjectival Group ----- 108
7.2.4 The Adverbial Group ----- 109
7.2.5 The Prepositional Group & Phrase -----
109
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ENGLISH CLAUSE
8.1 The Clause ----- 111

8.1.1 The Subject ----- 111
8.1.2 The Predicator ----

- 112
8.1.3 The Complement ----- 112
8.1.4 The Adjunct ----- 113
8.1.5 Inversion ----- 113
8.2 Classes of Clause ----- 114
8.2.1 Classification According to Form -----
114
8.2.1.1 Dependency ----- 114
8.2.1.1.1 Subordinate Clauses and their Functions -----
116
8.2.1.1.1.1 Nominal Clause ----- 116
8.2.1.1.1.2 Adjectival Clause ----- 117
8.2.1.1.1.3 Adverbial Clause ----- 117
8.2.1.2 Finiteness ----- 119
8.2.1.3 Major ----- 120
8.2.2 Classification According to Function ----- 121
CHAPTER NINE: CONCORD/AGREEMENT, & SPELLING
9.1 Concord (Agreement) ----- 125

9.1.1 Grammatical Concord ----- 125
9.1.2 Notional Concord ----- 126
9.1.3 Concord of Proximity ----- 127
9.1.4 More Guidelines on Concord ----- 127
9.2 Spelling ----- 129
9.2.1 Different Spelling, Related Meaning, Different Word Classes
129
9.2.2 Frequently Misspelled Words ----- 129
9.2.3 Some Rules on Spelling ----- 131
CHAPTER TEN: THE ENGLISH SENTENCE & PUNCTUATION
10.1 The Sentence ----- 135

10.1.1 The Simple Sentence ----- 135
10.1.2 The Compound Sentence ----- 136
10.1.3 The Complex Sentence ----- 137
10.2 Punctuation ----- 138
10.2.1 The Full Stop ( . ) ----- 139
10.2.1.1 Guidelines on the Use of Full Stop ----- 139
10.2.2 The Comma (,) ----- 141
10.2.2.1 Guidelines on the Use of Comma at the Level of
Group/Phrase ----- 141
10.2.2.2 Guidelines on the Use of Comma at the Level of Word --
143
6.2.2.3 More Guidelines on the Use of Comma -----
144
10.2.3 The Semicolon ( ; ) ----- 144
10.2.3.1 Guidelines on the Use of Semicolon ----- 145
10.2.4 The Colon ( : ) ----- 145
6.2.4.1 Guidelines on the Use of Colon ----- 145
10.2.5 The Brackets (Parentheses) ‘( )’, ‘[ ]’ ----- 146
10.2.5.1 Guidelines on the Use of Brackets (Parentheses) -----
146
10.2.6 The Dash ( – ) ----- 147
10.2.6.1 Guidelines on the Use of Dash ----- 147
10.2.7 The Exclamation Mark (!) ----- 147
10.2.7.1 Guidelines on the Use of Exclamation Mark -----
147
6.2.8 The Quotation Mark ( ‘ ’ ) ----- 148
6.2.8.1 Guidelines on the Use of Quotation Marks -----
148
CHAPTER ELEVEN: PUTTING YOUR ENGLISH TO THE TEST----

- 151
KEY ----- 165
BIBLIOGRAPHY ----- 173

CHAPTER ONE:
AN INTRODUCTION
TO GRAMMAR
1.1 GRAMMAR
Grammar can be explained as a set of rules that govern the use of

language. It refers to the whole structure of a particular language or of
languages in general. A book that contains all these rules is also referred to as
grammar. This means that the rules are called grammar, and the book that
contains them is also called grammar. Each human language has its own
system, structural pattern, and rules of usage; grammar is not peculiar to
English. Grammar is said to be the central processing unit of language.
Grammar consists of morphology and syntax. Syntax simply refers to
the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences.
Morphology is the study of words and word formation.
SENTENCE
CLAUSE
GROUP (PHRASE)
WORD
GRAMMATICAL RANK SCALE MORPHEME

The scale above is referred to as Grammatical Rank scale. The lowest
item on the scale is the morpheme while the highest item is the sentence. All
that we have on this scale is all that is studied when we want to study the
grammar of any human language. They are all that is contained in the grammar
of any language. The lowest part of the study is morpheme while the highest
part is sentence. The item on each level is called grammatical unit. This
means morpheme, word, group, clause, sentence are all grammatical units.
The direction of the arrows (beginning from the lowest) indicates that
one or more morphemes come together to form the word, one or more words
come together to form the group, one or more groups come together to form the
clause, while one or more clauses come together to form the sentence.
1.1.1 THE MORPHEME
Morpheme is defined as the smallest meaningful and indivisible unit of

grammar. This is because no other unit is lower than it in the study of grammar
as can be seen on the grammatical rank scale. Morpheme is lower than word in
rank. See some examples:
The
In
Glass
Sleep
Call
Goat
Woman
Compute
All the words above are made up of one morpheme each. Any attempt to
divide any of them would make no sense. Each is meaningful and cannot be
divided into any parts. For instance an attempt to divide glass may produce
gla- and -ss; each part of this division is meaningless. Let us try to divide the
item goat: go- and -at. Each of this is meaningful in English, but the meaning of
the word goat is not a combination of the meanings of go and at. This justifies
the fact that goat is a morpheme in English. See the following examples as
well:
Kindness
Repay
Undo
Taller
Player
The word kindness is not a morpheme in that it can be divided into kind
and -ness. Each of these parts is contained in a dictionary as having separate
meaning. Therefore, kind and -ness are morphemes, but note that the morpheme
kind can stand as a single word while -ness cannot stand as a single word.
This gives rise to the rule that states that a morpheme can also be a word but
not all morphemes are words. This is what we have in the case of
Kind + ness
Re + pay
Un + do
Tall + er
Play + er
where all are morphemes but not all are words. The same principle applies to
all other items in the grammatical rank scale.
1.1.1.1 CLASSES OF MORPHEME
Morphemes can be classified into two. These include free morphemes

and bond morphemes. Free morphemes are morphemes that qualify to stand as
a word though they are morphemes. This characteristic is morphosyntactic.
Examples of words realised from free morphemes include go, come, name, in,
on, play, skip, brown, of, with, by, etc. Bond morphemes are morphemes that
cannot stand alone as a word. Examples include prefixes, suffixes, singular
markers, plural markers, past tense, and past participle morphemes.
THE FREE MORPHEME
Free morphemes are morphemes that can stand as a word. There are
two classes of the free morpheme. These are lexical free morphemes (also
called lexical or content words) and functional free morphemes (also called
function or grammatical words). The tag ‘lexical’ is used because lexical
morphemes bear lexical
meanings while functional morphemes do not. Examples of lexical free
morphemes include nouns, adjectives, (lexical) verbs, and adverbs. All other
word classes (prepositions, conjunctions, including auxiliary verbs, etc.) are
functional free morphemes or function words.
THE BOND MORPHEME
Bond morphemes are morphemes that cannot stand as a word. Bond

morphemes include prefixes, suffixes, singular markers, plural markers, past
tense, and past participle morphemes. The bond morpheme can be classified
into inflectional bond morphemes and derivational bond morphemes.
Inflectional bond morphemes include prefixes, singular markers, plural
markers, past tense, and past participle morphemes. Inflectional bond
morphemes retain the word class of the word being inflected. That is, if the
word being inflected were a noun, the inflection will not change the word to a
verb or any other word class. However, a derivational bond morpheme
changes the class of the word to which it is attached, thereby, deriving a new
word class (hence the name ‘derivational’). Most suffixes are derivational
bond morphemes.
Kind (adjective) + -ness (suffix) = kindness (noun)

Wise (adjective) + -dom (suffix) = wisdom (noun)
More can be seen in the under derivation (also affixation) below.
1.1.1.2 AFFIXATION (DERIVATION)
Affixation (also derivation) is a process of word formation, in which one

or more affixes is attached to a root to produce a new word known as derived
word. This process of word formation is also termed affixation for, whenever
we produce a new word this way, we need to use an affix: a prefix or a suffix.
Usually derivation will change the part of speech of the root to which a suffix
is added. This process of word-formation is very productive, too.
CLASSIFICATION OF AFFIXATION
There are two kinds of affixation: prefixation and suffixation. In former,

a prefix is used while in latter a suffix is used. Generally speaking, prefixation
will lead to a meaning alteration while suffixation will lead to word-class
change.
CLASSIFICATION OF AFFIXES
Affixes are classified:
1. in terms of productivity: Some affixes are more productive such as un-,

dis-, -able while some other ones are less productive, for example, mal- and
even the dead ones such as for- in the word forgive.
2. in terms of position: The affixes which are added to the front part of a base
are termed prefixes while those which are added to the back part of a base are
termed suffixes. For example:
Prefixes: un-, dis-, mis-, pre-, etc.

Suffixes: -ance, -ment, -tion, -y, etc.
3. in terms of origin: Some affixes are borrowed from other languages while
some others are native ones.
Native affixes: un-, mis-, be-, out-, over-,-less, -ness, -dom,

Foreign affixes:
a. Latin ones: in-/im-/ir-/il, sub-, inter-, counter-, mini-, ex-, re-, post-,
etc.
b. Greek ones: anti-, neo-, proto-, pseudo-, hyper-, etc.
c. Germanic ones: un-, mis-, out-, over-, under-, etc.
d. Romanic ones: dis-, etc.
e. German ones: fore- etc.
Generally speaking, a native affix will be added to a native base. But we do

have some exceptions, that is to say, the affixes and bases of different origins
can be combined to form new words and these words will be called hybrid.
For example:
Rewrite (Latin prefix re- plus a native base ‘write’)

Unjust (native prefix un- plus an Old French base ‘just’)
Maltreat (French prefix mal- plus a Latin base ‘treat’)
4. in terms of meaning:
Negative affixes: un-, non-, in-, dis-, a- etc.

Since most of the prefixes will alter the meaning of the base to which it is
attached, they are usually classified into different groups in terms of their
meaning alteration.
a) reversative affixes: un-, de-, dis-, etc.

b) pejorative affixes: mis-, mal-, pseudo-, etc.
c) degree or size affixes: super-, out-, sub-, over-, under-, hyper-,
ultra-, mini-, etc.
d) attitude affixes: co-, counter-, anti-, pro-, etc.
e) time or order affixes: fore-, pre-, post-, ex-, re-, etc.
f) locative affixes: super-, sub-, inter-, trans-, etc.
g) number affixes: mono-, bi-, di-, tri-, multi-, poly-, etc.
h) miscellaneous categories: auto-, neo-, pan-, proto-, semi-, vice-,
etc.
5. in terms of the shift of word class origin: Since most of suffixes will
change the word class of a base to which it is attached, they are often
classified into different groups in terms of the shift of word class. But do
remember we have some prefix that can behave like suffix such as ‘en-: e.g.
(to) enlarge, (to) enhance, (to) endanger, (to) endorse, (to) endow. Denominal
noun suffixes (it means that a word of noun is derived from another noun by
adding a suffix): -hood, -ship, -let, -dom, -ee, -er, -ty, -ist, -tion, etc. The
suffixes -hood and -ship should be distinguished from the free morphemes e.g.
childhood, friendship*, booklet, stardom. Compare, for instance, the following
words: spaceship is a compound since the ship in the word is a free
morpheme, while friendship is a derived word, since the ship in the word is
not a free morpheme but a suffix.
i. Deadjective noun suffixes (it means that a noun is derived from an
adjective by adding a suffix): -ness, -ity e.g. kindness, rapidity, etc.
ii. Deverbal noun suffixes (it means that a noun is derived from a verb by
adding a suffix): -er, -ee, -ment e.g. writer, payee, development
iii. Deadjective verb suffixes (it means that a verb is derived from an
adjective by adding a suffix): -ify, -en e.g. beautify, widen
iv. Deadjective verb prefix (it means that an adjective will be changed into a
verb by adding a prefix): en-, be-, a-, etc. e.g. enlarge, asleep, becalm, etc.
v. Denominal adjective suffixes (it means that an adjective is derived from a
noun by adding a suffix): -ful, -ish, -al, -less, -ic e.g. beautiful, boyish,
national, careless, atomic, etc.
vi. Deverbal adjective suffixes (it means that an adjective is derived from a
verb by adding a suffix): -able e.g. washable, readable, changeable,
comparable, measurable,
tolerable, etc.
vii. Deadjective adverb suffixes (it means that an adverb is derived from an
adjective by adding a suffix): -ly, -ward e.g. happily, backward, etc.
viii. Denominal adverb suffixes (it means that an adverb is derived from a
noun by adding a suffix): -wise e.g. clockwise, etc.
The knowledge of the origin, productivity, meaning, word class and
position about morphemes is the basis on which the structure and classification
and even the meaning of derived words can be understood better. The rule to
coin derived words is sometimes quite free. For example, the suffix -ly can be
added to almost all the adjectives such as clearly, beautifully, ideally, etc. But
sometimes the application of such a rule is very arbitrary or conventional. For
example, the suffix -able can be added to the bases wash, read, but not to open,
write. When we say the rule is arbitrary or conventional, we mean that there is
no explanation why sometimes they can be used and why sometimes they
cannot. Or say, it is a sort of linguistic knowledge shared by all the members of
a speech community in using that language.
1.1.2 THE WORD
Word can be defined as a unit of grammar that represents a thought.

Word is created using the morpheme. A word can be made up of one or more
morphemes. We can have as many morphemes as possible in a word, and we
can as well have only one morpheme in a word as we saw above. See more
examples:
Entertainment (entertain + -ment: two morphemes but one word)

Legal (one morpheme, one word)
Illegal (il- + lega: one word but two morphemes)
Impossibility (im- + possible + ability: three morphemes
but one word)
Law (one morpheme, one word)
There are different word classes in English. We will begin a study of them in
chapter two.
1.1.2.1 WORD FORMATION PROCESSES
There are various word formation processes in English. Some of these

are discussed below.
1. Compounding: Compounding is the process of putting two or more
independent words together to form a new one that does not denote two things,
but one and that is pronounced as one unit. There are four classes of compound
words:
1. Endocentric compounds: A (modifier) + B (head) = a special kind of B
(e.g. sea power)
b. Exocentric compounds: A + B = compound with an unexpressed
semantic head e.g. paleface. (they mostly refer to depreciative
properties of people.)
c. Copulative compounds: A + B = the 'sum' of what A and B denote
(bittersweet)
d. Appositional compounds: A + B = different descriptions for a
common referent (singer songwriter)
The difficulty with compounds is to work out which words are more heavily
pronounced in their first and which ones in their second part. Another problem,
also for native speakers, may be to detect which compounds are written how,
because some compounds are hyphenated, others are written separately and
some are written as one word.
2. Reduplication / Echoism: We can count reduplication, also referred to as
echoism, as a special kind of compounding, and this works through repeating a
syllable or the word as whole (sometimes a vowel is changed) and then putting
it together, as in bye-bye (exact reduplication), super-duper (rhyming
reduplication), or chitchat (ablaut reduplication). While exact reduplication
creates a kind of baby-talk-like word, ablaut reduplication is more to denote a
motion, e.g. from ding to dong (in ding-dong). Reduplication is used to denote
plurality, intensification or a repeated action.
3. Blending: A blending is a combination of two or more words to create a
new one, usually by taking the beginning of the other word and the end of the
other one. So new words like spork (spoon + fork), fanzine (fan + magazine),
bromance (brother + romance) or Spanglish (Spanish + English) are created.
There are of course other ways to create a blending: for example, you can take
both beginnings of a word (cybernetic + organism → cyborg) or take a whole
word and combine it with a part of another one (guess + estimate →
guesstimate).
Another example of combining words, in this case names, is the bleding
of celebrity couple names, such as Brangelina (Brad + Angelina) or Bennifer
(Ben + Jennifer). Sometimes blendings are referred to as portmanteau words.
4. Initialism & Acronymy: Initialisms and acronyms are shortenings, build
from the initial letters in a phrase or name. While acronyms are pronounced as
single words (NASA, AIDS), initialisms are pronounced as a sequence of
letters (DNA, USA). Some acronyms even become words of our everyday
language, such as laser or zip code. But the most famous word based on a
shortening is the initialism OK, whose origins are
fairly argumentative. Initialisms and acronyms can be sub-divided into a few
groups:
1. Acronyms containing non-initial letters (Interpol - International
Criminal Police Organization, radar - radio detection and ranging)
2. Pronounced as a combination of initialism and acronym (CD-ROM,
JPEG)
3. Recursive initialisms, in which the abbreviation refers to itself (PHP -
PHP hypertext pre-processor)
4. Pseudo-initialisms, which consist of a sequence of characters that, when
pronounced as intended, invoke other, longer words (IOU – I owe you,
CU – See you). This kind of initialism is frequently seen on the internet.
5. Initialisms whose last abbreviated word is often redundantly included
anyway (PIN number)
5. Borrowing & Calque: Borrowing is the process of actually borrowing
words from foreign languages. The English language has been borrowing
words from many languages in the last hundred years, and today, French loan
words are especially popular. The other way round, many countries also have
taken many English words into their dictionaries, such as the well-known OK
or internet. While most of the loan words are nouns, only some of them are
verbs or adjectives.
Mostly, the borrowed nouns are later changed or made to conform to fit
the verbal forms of the language, in speech and in writing. For example, risk,
originating in Italia, was actually a noun when borrowed, but later, in need of a
verb, it was converted: to risk. Calque, another term for loan translation,
describes the process of literally or word-for-word translations to create new
words, e.g. skyscraper → Wolkenkratzer, Lehnwort → loan word. The stems
are literally translated and then put back together, the meaning is the same as in
the loan word.
6. Neologism/Coinage: As neologism or coinage we identify the word
formation process of inventing entirely new words. This is a very rare and
uncommon method to create new words, but in the media, people try to outdo
each other with more and better words to name their products. Often these
trademark names are adopted by the masses and they become everyday words
of language. And in some cases, the meaning of these words is broadened and
e.g. to 'google' means not always 'to use google to find something on the
internet', but to 'search the internet'.
Similarly, complicated chemical or technical terms (like Aspirin:
acetylsalicylic acid) are adopted as the trademark term and often replace
standard terms for e.g. in this example, painkillers. This also happened to
words like Xerox, Kleenex or the German Nutella. Some words are
differentiated from 'standard' neologisms, namely eponyms. Eponyms are
words that are based on the name of a person or a place. Common eponyms are
sandwich or Fahrenheit. They are very frequently used in
science where units of measurement are named after people, like: hertz, volt,
celsius.
7. Onomatopoeia: This special type of word that depicts the sound associated
with what is named'. For example, if you take a look at these words: boo,
chirp, click, meow, splash, it is obvious what these words mean, namely the
sound. In other words: they look like they sound when pronounced.
Onomatopoeic words like bang or boom are often used in comic books to let
the reader know what kind of sound is accompanied to the action.
As we have seen before, there are many ways to create new words:
Borrowing from other languages, blending together from several words or
deriving from words we already have. Of course there are even more
possibilities than mentioned before. There is the possibility to convert words
from one grammatical category to another, for example from verb to noun (to
flow → the flow) or from noun to verb (the e-mail → to e-mail). Other
examples for other word formation processes include clippings, with which
the word is shortened (e.g. influenza → flu; advertising →ad; motorbike →
bike), or folk etymology, where words from other languages are taken and then,
over time, people try to make sense of them. So gradually the word is changed
to a more familiar form that usually keeps its original meaning, e.g. the Spanish
word cucaracha was borrowed and then gradually transformed to cockroach.
Even the creative respelling, where the spelling of words is changed for
products (e.g. Kleen, Krunch), is considered to be one of these processes.
So finally, if we take a look around, we will see a mass of new words
surrounding us, brought to us both consciously by language trends or
advertising and unconsciously through language change over time. For
example, if you read any of Shakespeare's work, it is obvious that language is
dynamic, because both the grammar and the words are different to ours now.
Language changes constantly. And who knows if the people will understand the
language we are using now in a few decades?
8. Derivation: This is a process by which new words are formed by adding
morphemes to stems. These morphemes are added to the target stem by
affixation, through prefixes and suffixes. While prefixes like un- or dis- usually
do not change the lexical category of a word, suffixes, such as -ness or -ation,
usually do. If you take the examples happy → unhappy and happy →
happiness, it is obvious that because of the suffix -ness the lexical category of
happy has changed. The meaning is always slightly changed, but in a way that
the final word is still closely related to the former word. In times of rapid
changes in the world technology, new morphemes to describe new words rise,
such as cyber- and nano-. There are of course more prefixes and suffixes, each
indicating another aspect of change made to the meaning of the original word.
1.2 CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS
Following the explanation of MAK Halliday, what grammarians do is to

construct an abstract model of the system of language based on observation of
language instantiated use (i.e. language example). The computerized corpus (a
collection of written and spoken texts in machine readable form) has made this
evidence available in sufficient quantity for the first time. But the relationship
between what we observe on the screen (or take in in any other form, as
written or spoken discourse) and the abstract categories that we construct in
order to explain how language works (that is, how people exchange meaning
discursively in real life situations) is extremely complex and indirect. The
clause is the mainspring of grammatical energy.
A grammatical class is a set of items that are alike in some respect. The
most familiar, such as we have in traditional grammar, are classes of words:
noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction (and
sometimes also interjection) in the usual list. However, every grammatical unit
can be classified (that is, referred to as class). Just as there are word classes,
there are also classes of group and phrase, classes of clause, classes of
sentence, and classes of morpheme. Word classes are traditionally called parts
of speech through a mistranslation of the Greek term meroi logou, which
actually meant parts of a sentence. We will, therefore, use word classes
instead of parts of speech.
CHAPTER TWO:
THE ENGLISH NOUN
2.1 NOUN
There is this popular misconception of what noun is. If you ask almost
anybody what a noun is, the most likely answer you would get is:
A noun is a name of any person, animal place or thing.
You have to know that this definition is inappropriate. According to the

definition, for a word to belong to the class of noun (i.e. to be referred to as a
noun), it must be a name of a person (e.g. Bala, Tunde, Nkechi), a name of an
animal, or name of a thing. ‘Thing’ in this sense is usually conceived of by
most learners as something that can be touched (e.g. book, chalk).
But consider nouns like concept, sanction, stance, etc. The three, amongst
many others, are nouns in English yet there is no place of recognition for them
in the above definition. None of the three words is a name of any person, name
of place, animal or thing. Therefore the above definition is inappropriate in
that it cannot account for all the nouns we have in English. Noun can however
be more appropriately defined as:
A naming word or group of words.
It is a naming word in that it could be a single word naming a person,

an animal, a place, a thing, a concept, an idea, a situation, a condition, etc. The
basic thing about noun is that it names; it names something. Secondly, it could
be a group of words as in Lagos state university, things fall apart, institute of
chartered accountants
of Nigeria, Bachelor of Science, etc. This definition shows that a noun can be
made up of one word or more than one word.
There are different types of noun. Each type has its peculiar qualities and
guiding rules which other types may not have. This means that you must be
diligent enough to pay good attention to every detail that surrounds each type of
noun in order for you to be able to make good use of each of them. Know this
today: no detail is too little to be given good attention.
2.2 CLASSES OF NOUN
There are different classes of noun. These are discussed below.
2.2.1 PROPER NOUNS

Proper nouns are also referred to as proper names. Proper nouns are
names of persons, geographical places including names of villages, towns,
states, cities, regions, countries, continents, planets, as well as names of rivers,
days of the week, months of the year, name of companies, organizations, names
of languages, school subjects, institutions, houses, streets, names of
newspapers, magazines, etc. The distinct thing about a proper noun is that it
names a particular thing. For instance we know a dog, but a particular dog may
be named bingo. Here the word ‘bingo’ has become a proper name (i.e. a
proper noun). Below are some important guidelines guiding the use of proper
nouns.
2.2.1.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF PROPER

NOUNS
1. Proper nouns do not have plural form. However there are few
exceptions
to this rule. An exception is exemplified in the following:
Speaker A: please I’m asking for Dora.
Speaker B: which of the Doras? There are three Doras
in this House.
2. Proper nouns are written with obligatory initial capital. This simply
means that
whenever a proper noun is to be written, its first letter must be in capital.
It does not matter whether such a proper noun occurs as the first word in a
sentence or at the centre or at the end of the sentence. See the
following:
Ibadan is a place to be.

I went to Ibadan last week.
Have you been to Ibadan?
3. Proper nouns do not take determiners (i.e. any of a, an, or the).however

certain
proper nouns take obligatory determiners marking their uniqueness. Note
the point here, the determiners are used to mark their uniqueness.
The Obafemi Awolowo University.
The United Arab Emirate.
The Atlantic Ocean.
The National Theatre.
The River Nile.
The United Kingdom.
The United States of America.
The House of Assembly etc.
Note that the use of proper names such as those above without determiners is
not Standard English.
4. Should the proper noun be made up of more than one word, only nouns,
adjectives, lexical verbs, and adverbs are to begin with capital letter.
Pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, and articles do not begin in
capital.
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria

Oxford Advanced Learners English Dictionary
Guidelines on the Use of Proper Nouns
5. The use of ‘the’ in the following is not as determiner, it is part of the

proper names:
The Punch
The Guardian
The Polytechnic, Ibadan.
2.2.2.1.1 COMMON NOUNS
Common nouns are also names. They are names used to refer to a class
of things which have common features. Examples of common nouns include
man, bird, book, furniture, water, sugar, news, information, rice, oil, beans,
cloth, tree, work, etc. Common nouns can be divided into two: count, and
mass.
2.2.2.1 COUNT NOUNS

Count nouns are names of things that are seen as separable entities, not
necessarily things that can be counted. Countable noun might have come to your
mind. Countable noun and count noun are not the same. Countable nouns are
explained as nouns that can be counted. Count nouns are explained as names of
things that are seen as separable entities, not necessarily things that can be
counted.
The idea of countable noun is rather inappropriate. This is because all
the types of nouns can be in English can be counted. What obtains is that the
method of counting each type is different. The definition of count nouns given
above simply means that count nouns are names of things separable by nature.
Here are some examples: boy, chair, book man, bird, etc. These things exist as
separable entities.
When a count noun refers to only one entity, it is said to be singular.
Therefore it takes the singular form (e.g. man, book ball, etc.). When it refers
to more than one entity, it is said to be plural. Therefore it takes the plural form
(e.g. men, books, balls, etc.).
2.2.2.2 MASS NOUNS
Mass nouns are names of things that are not separable. They include
nouns like water, sugar, thunder, information, news, furniture, music, gold, rice,
beans, salt, oil, paper, wood, advice, bread, wind, soap, etc. Mass nouns are
either ordinarily uncountable or are not normally counted. As a result, they do
not have plural form. Words such as *furnitures, informations* are un-English
(that is, they do not exist in English). Note however that certain mass nouns
have plural form. It is important to state at this point that there are, oftentimes,
exceptions to every rule of grammar.
The scholar’s papers are published abroad.

Professor Stephen’s works are available in almost all the
libraries in the world.
Note that the word paper here means articles or academic writings, and work
refers to published books. If you do not use papers or works when referring to
number of articles of this kind or published books, you are not using Standard
English.
COUNTING MASS NOUNS
Mass nouns are not usually counted. But in some contexts, you may be
compelled to count them. If such a need arises, all you need do is simply make
use of partitives (or size/container). Partitive denotes a grammatical
construction used to indicate that only a part of a whole is what is being
referred to. Below are some mass nouns counted using partitives:
A piece of: information, wood, cloth, clothe,

advice, bread, work, chalk, meat, paper, etc.
A pint of: blood, beer, etc.
A cup of: water, rice, beans, tea, etc.
A pound of: flesh, meat, etc.
An item of: news, information, furniture, etc.
A bit of: work, trouble, wood, etc.
More include: a gust of wind, a clap of thunder, a rumble of thunder, a slice of

bread, a bar of soap, a puff of smoke, a cloud of smoke, a grain of rice, a seed
of beans, a loaf of bread, etc.
2.2.3 CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT NOUNS
Concrete nouns are names of material things. They are names of things
that can be touched with the hand. Examples include nouns such as bottle, car,
pen, etc. Abstract nouns are names of immaterial things. They are names of
things that cannot be touched with the hand. Examples include promotion,
beauty, holiness, honesty, enjoyment, etc.
2.2.4 COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Collective nouns are nouns which refer to a group of entities e.g.

audience, family, public, crowd, etc. Collective nouns do not take s in order to
form its plural. It is
the context in which a collective noun is used that tells us whether it functions
as singular or as plural. This means that it is the context of usage that indicates
whether the collective noun in use is either used as singular or as plural. Look
at the following examples:
Singular
The audience was enormous.

Family is the unit of society.
There is a crowd at the gate.
Plural
Obey whatever your family say to you.

The audience were sad because the play could
no longer continue.
What do the crowd outside want?
2.2.5 GERUNDS
Gerunds are nouns that end with -ing. In other words, they are verbs in
the progressive form functioning as nouns. Examples include smoking, driving,
drinking, and dancing as used below:
Smoking is dangerous to health.

Driving can be fun.
Drinking is a bad habit.
Dancing is what I can do best.
2.3 IDENTIFYING THE ENGLISH NOUN
Apart from being able to identify the English nouns using the knowledge
of the various nouns given above, the guide below can be of considerable help
as well. Some
words can function both as noun and as verb, or as adjectives: context of usage
determines this. See man as used in the following:
Man is the highest animal. (noun)
I want you to man this company with all diligence. (verb)
He is not man enough to be a leader (adjective)
However, words that end with the following suffixes are nouns: -ee, -ese, -ion,
-ness, -dom, -hood, -ment, -ship, -ster, etc.
-ee : employee, detainee, interviewee, etc.
-ese: japanese, chinese, etc.
-ion: sanction, action, education, intuition, information, etc.
-ness: goodness, kindness, tallness, kindness,
sorriness, etc
-dom: kingdom, stardom, chiefdom, etc.
-hood: childhood, manhood, parenthood, etc.
-ment: enjoyment, government, procurement, etc.
-ship: kingship, professorship, authorship, etc.
-ster: gangster, sportster, etc.
2.4 MODIFYING THE ENGLISH NOUN

Modifying the English noun is concerned with using certain words to
give shape to a noun. The English noun can be modified using determiners,
ordinals, adjectives, and sometimes nouns. We will begin with determiners.
2.4.1 MODIFYING NOUN USING DETERMINERS
Determiners help to tell us that the words that follow them are nouns.
Examples of determiners include articles (i.e. a, an, the), each, every, both,
some, half, other, such, one-third (e.g. one-third the class), several, many, few,
a few, little, a little, twice, any, enough, more, most, much, what, these, this,
that, possessive nouns, pronouns, etc. Some of the determiners listed above are
also called partitives/quantifiers. Let us begin with articles.
2.4.1.1 THE ENGLISH ARTICLES AS MODIFIERS
There are two types of articles in English: definite and indefinite. The
word the is definite article. It is called definite article because it is used to
show definite reference. It is used to refer to a specific noun. It is used to
introduce a noun implying that such a noun is known both to the speaker as
well as to the listener, or that such a noun has
already been mentioned. It may also be used to mark the uniqueness of certain
proper nouns as has been mentioned before.
The indefinite article include a and an. They are called indefinite
articles because they do not show nor indicate definite reference. They are not
used to refer to specific things, rather they are non-specific. This means that the
nouns they modify are only known to the speaker and are yet to be known to the
listener. Consider the following examples:
The house is very big. (definite reference)

*a house is very big.* (no definite reference)
I saw the boy in your house. (definite reference)
I saw a boy in your house. (no definite reference)
Some important guidelines on the use of the indefinite articles are given below.
GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES
I. Article a is used if the noun to be modified begins with consonant

sound. Note that this rule says ‘consonant sound’ and not necessarily an
alphabet that denotes a consonant sound. Therefore, be careful to pay close
attention to this rule; it is a very sensitive rule. See the following:
A European
A university lecturer
A goat
A union
A crown etc.
Do not confuse or interchange English alphabets with English speech sounds;

they are very different.
2. Article an is used if the noun to be modified begins with a vowel

sound. Note the rule says ‘vowel sound’.
An honest man.
An umbrella.
An orange.
More guidelines on the use of all the English articles are given below.
3. The word ‘space’ is used without any article if it is used to mean ‘the
empty space between earth and stars’:
Man took his first steps into space some years ago.
Not
*man took his first step into the space some years ago*
IV. Some common expressions in English are used without articles,

especially after preposition. Some of these expressions include:
To school / college, in/from/to/into church / mosque, at school /
college, in/to class, to/in/into/out of/ prison from school
/ college, to/in/into/out of hospital / bed, at university, to/at/from
work, to/at sea, to/in/at/from town, to university, by
bus/car/sea/road/rail/boat/air, on foot, from university, at/from
home, from breakfast, at lunch/night, etc.
When these expressions are used with articles, they have a special (idiomatic)
meaning.
V. Articles are not used in double expressions.
Can you eat kola nut with knife and fork?
More of such expressions include:

With hat and coat not *with a hat and a coat*
From top to bottom not *from the top to the bottom*
From beginning to end not *from the beginning to the end*
On land and sea not *on the land and on the sea*
Arm in arm not *arm in the arm*
Inch by inch not *inch by the/an inch*
Day by day not *day by the day*
VI. Articles are not used with continents, countries, states,

departments, towns, streets, lakes. However, there are exceptions to this
rule. There are countries whose names take the naturally and if you omit
this the when using their names, you are not using Standard English.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria
The United States of America
The United Arab Emirates
The United Kingdom etc.
The National Arts Theatre
The Atlantic Ocean etc.
VII. Do not leave out the article before names of professions.
His uncle is studying to become a geologist.
VIII. Usually, two determiners cannot be used together.
I like this book

I like your book.
Not
*I like this your book*
2.4.1.2 QUANTIFIERS / PARTITIVES AS MODIFIERS
Quantifiers are used to indicate quantity. They are used to indicate the
quantity of the noun modified. Quantifiers are pre-determiners while articles
(discussed above) are determiners. Don’t let this confuse you. Quantifiers
(pre-determiners) are used to determine whether the noun being modified
should be in singular or in plural form. This will also affect the verb that will
be used along with such a noun. Example of quantifiers include all, half, one-
third (and the like), both, many, such, twice, little, a little, some, several,
every, any, each, etc.
Whenever we join the word of to any of these quantifiers, then such a
quantifier will no longer be referred to as quantifier. It would be referred to as
partitive. The word of in this case would be referred to as partitive genitive.
You may not necessarily memorize all these terminologies. All you need do is
to know the quantifiers/partitives and the rule(s) guiding the use of each
GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF QUANTIFIERS AND PARTITIVES
1. All: As a quantifying determiner, all is not usually used with of:

He spends all his money on food.
Not
*he spends all of his money on food*
Whenever of is to be used with all, the following word should be a plural

pronoun.
All of them are fine.
II. Half: As a quantifying determiner, half is not usually used with of:
She spends half her income on jewelleries.

Not
*she spends half of her income on jewelries.*
Whenever of is to be used with half, the following word should be in plural.
III. Both: Both does not usually go with of as well.
Both the children are here.

Not
*both of the children are here*
Whenever of is to follow both, a plural pronoun should be used followed by a

plural verb.
Both of them are here.
IV. Many: Many is used with plural count noun and a plural verb.
Many people lack common sense.
Whenever many is followed by a (i.e. many a), the following noun must be in
singular as well as the verb.
Many a child needs a bottle of food drink.
If many is followed by of, a plural pronoun should be used along with a plural
verb.
V. Such: Such is usually followed by the indefinite article after

which a singular noun/pronoun is used along with a singular verb.
Such a boy is meant to be disciplined.

Such an idea is what we need.
VI. Twice: Twice is not usually followed by of in any context.
The skirt is twice her size.
Note that the word thrice is no longer accepted in Standard English.
VII. Every: Every is usually used with singular count noun or a

pronoun followed with a singular verb.
Every child deserves Bournvita.
VIII. Some: Some is used to modify plural count noun followed with a
plural verb.
Some boys are in the garden.
Some is used as well to modify mass nouns. If it is used in this way, a

singular verb must be used.
Some water is here.

There is some oil in the bottle.
Whenever some is followed with of, a plural noun/pronoun is used but

the verb should be plural.
Some of them….
Some of the people….
IX. Several: Several is used to modify plural count nouns. Note that
whenever
several is used to modify a noun, you are making your listener (or
reader) believe that the quantity of that noun is more than one but usually
not more than ten.
I have several friends but not many friends.
I have several balls.
X. Few: Few is used if the noun to be modified is usually too small
in terms of quantity, and you cannot afford it or share it with someone
else. The word few denotes negativity. It is used with plural count nouns.
I have few pieces of meat left in my pot; I can’t give you any
out of it.
XI. A few: A few is used if the noun to be modified is of worthy

quantity, and one can still give some out. A few denotes positivity.
I have a few pieces of meat left in my pot; I’ll give you some.
XII. Little: Little is used to modify mass nouns. It is used if the mass
noun is usually too small in volume. Little denotes negativity.
There is little food left in the pot.
XIII. A little: A little is also used to modify mass noun. It denotes that
the noun being modified is of considerable volume. It denotes positivity.
I can afford to give you some; I have a little left.
XIV. Any: Any can be used with both count and mass nouns. It can be
used with both singular and plural nouns. Do not be surprised at this;
there are exceptions in almost every rule of life.
Any dog might have taken the bone.

Any dogs seen here will be killed.
XV. Each: Each is used with count nouns. It takes singular noun and
singular verb.
Each boy was given a packet of crayons.

Whenever of follows each, the following noun must be in
plural but
the verb remains singular.
Each of the boys was given a packet of crayons.
XVI. Enough: Enough is used with both count and mass nouns. It is
usually used only with plural nouns. If it is used to modify a mass noun, a
singular verb must be used.
The sugar is enough.

If enough is used to modify a plural count noun, the verb should be
plural as well.
There are enough chairs in the hall.
XVII. Much/more/most: These modifiers follow the same rule as

enough above. It is considered there is no need for repetition.
XVIII.This/that: These (if used as) modifiers take singular count nouns
and singular verbs.
This lady is brilliant.

That book is very good.
XIX. These/those: These and those are used to modify plural count
nouns followed with plural verbs.
These cars are nice.

Those cars are mine.
XX. Plenty of / none of: None of is used to modify plural count

nouns. It takes singular verb.
None of the applicants was qualified.
Plenty of is used with mass nouns. It takes singular verb.
There is plenty of wine in the fridge.
XXI. Always be mindful of these rules when using the English

nouns.
2.4.1.3 MODIFYING NOUNS USING ORDINALS
Ordinals are of two types: ordinal numerals and cardinal numerals.

Ordinal numerals include first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth…tenth.
They are not usually more than ten. They perform numerative functions. Next,
last also fall into this category.
Dayo’s first appearance in the world cup was in 1988,
and his second came eight years later in 1996.
Cardinal numerals include one, two, three, four, five, six…ten. They are not
followed with any articles.
One chair….
Two tables….
Nine boys….
Ordinal numerals and cardinal numerals can co-occur.
The first two applicants will be taken, anyway,

the next three will also be considered.
2.4.1.4 MODIFYING NOUNS USING EPITHET (ADJECTIVES)
An adjective (epithet), as we know it, is a word naming an attribute of a

noun. On some occasions, only one adjective would be enough to modify a
noun. But there are other occasions where we use more than one. In the
occasion where we are to use more than one, then the following order should
be followed:
Quality --- lovely, good, successful, beautiful, etc.
Size --- big, small, tall, little, long, etc.
Age --- old, new, young, etc.
Shape --- round, square, flat, rectangular, etc.
Colour --- black, blue, green, yellow, etc.
Provenance --- (a) race: negroid, aboriginal, Caucasoid, etc.
(b) geographical: Nigerian, African, British, etc.
(c) origin: Asian, eastern, Indian, etc.
(d) derived: wooden, golden, silken, etc.
A lovely big round Nigerian car.

Quality size shape provenance noun
2.4.1.5 MODIFYING NOUNS USING NOUNS
Nouns are used as modifiers in the following:
Lagos street
Bello road
University book depot
Stephen’s hospital
Badagry expressway
2.5 THE ENGLISH NOUN SYSTEMS
There are several systems in the English noun. These are discussed
below.
2.5.1 THE PLURAL SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH NOUN
Most English nouns form plurals by adding -s, -es, or -ies to their
singular forms. Some however form their plurals through other processes.
Important guidelines on pluralisation of the English nouns are given below.
GUIDELINES ON THE PLURALITY OF ENGLISH

NOUNS
1. Nouns ending with consonant sound or with -s, -x, -sh or -ch form their
plurals by
adding -s or -es to their singular forms:
Singular Plural
ball balls
car cars
loss losses
prospectus prospectuses
syllabus syllabuses
box boxes
bash bashes
brush brushes
flash flashes
church churches
watch watches
loch lochs
2. Nouns that end with -cy or -y usually form their plurals with -ies:
Singular Plural
policy policies
baby babies
lady ladies
legacy legacies
III. Nouns ending with -ey take -ies or -s to form their plurals:
Singular Plural
valley valleys
key keys
money moneys (or monies)
IV. Some nouns that end with -y still do not conform to rule II. above
by simply adding -s to form their plurals:
Singular Plural
boy boys
toy toys
day days
V. Nouns that end with -f or -fe form their plurals with either -s or -
ves or occasionally with both:
Singular Plural
wolf wolves
calf calves
elf elves
half halves
leaf leaves
life lives
dwarf dwarfs (or dwarves)
hoof hoofs (or hooves)
turf turfs (or turves)
wharf wharfs (wharves)
roof roofs (or rooves)
scarf scarfs (of scarves)
oaf oafs
proof proofs
NOUNS WITH DIFFICULT PLURAL PATTERNING
I. Nouns with irregular plurals:
Singular Plural
child children
ox oxen
cherub cherubim
seraph seraphim
foot feet
goose geese
louse lice
man men
mouse mice
tooth teeth
II. Nouns with no plural marker:
Singular Plural
brison brison
cod cod
deer deer
salmon salmon
sheep sheep
squid squid
III. Nouns that have only the plural form (also referred to as
summation plurals): tools
binoculars pliers
clippers scissors
forceps shears
gallows spectacles
goggles glasses (i.e. eye glasses)
pincers tongs
Note that these nouns do not have singular form. They only exist in the plural.
This means that whenever you use any of them, you should accompany it with a
plural verb and refer to it with plural pronouns as the case may be. Do not omit
the s that ends their spelling. See the following:
I like these clippers (one pair of clippers), they are nice ones.
IV. Nouns only having the plural form (i.e. summation plurals):
articles of clothing
braces pants
breeches pyjamas (USA – pajamas)
briefs shorts
flannels slacks
jeans suspenders
knickers trousers
tights shoes .
leggings
The same rule that applies to the summation plurals in iii. above also
applies to these ones.
NOUNS ENDING WITH ‘O’
I. When a vowel (usually -i- or -o-) precedes the -o, the plural is formed
by adding -s.
Singular Plural
trio trios
video videos
II. If the noun is a name of a plant or an animal, the plural is formed by

adding -es:
Singular Plural
mango mangoes
buffalo buffaloes
tomato tomatoes
III. If the noun is a shortening of another noun, the plural is formed by

adding -s:
Singular Plural
demo demos
hippo hippos
kilo kilos
3. Nouns introduced from foreign languages, especially recently,

form
their plurals with -s:
Singular plural
bolero boleros
placebo placebos
V. Nouns that have many syllables tend to take -s in forming their
plurals:
Singular plural
aficionado aficionados
manifesto aficionados
VI. Proper names used allusively (i.e. used to refer to people of certain
type or character) form the plural with -s:
Singular plural
nero neros
romeo romeos
LATIN PLURALS
I. Plurals of Latin words (nouns) used in English are formed according to

the rules of Latin or English, or both:
Singular plural
apex apices / apexes (Latin/English)
stratum strata (Latin)
criterion criteria (Latin)
stadium stadia/stadiums (Latin/English)
phenomenon phenomena (Latin)
datum data/datas (Latin/English)
gymnasium gymnasiums(English)
arena arenas (English)
cactus cacti/cactuses (no clear
distinction)
II. Nouns ending with -s follow the original Latin form:

Singular plural
basis bases
crisis crises
More:
Singular plural
formula formulae/formulas
nucleus nuclei
octopus octopuses
hiatus hiatuses
stigma stigmata
vade mecumvade mecums
Note that names of illnesses, subjects, sports, ending with -s are regarded as
singular. Therefore, each of them takes singular verb:
mathematics
gymnastics
physics
acoustics
billiards
measles
PLURALITY OF COMPOUND NOUNS
Compound nouns are nouns that are made up of more than one word.
Singular plural
attorney-general - attorney-generals
brother-in-law - brother-in-laws
commander-in-chief - commanders-in-chief
court-martial - courts-martial
governor-general - governors-general
lay-by - lay-bys
man-of-war - men-of-war
passer-by - passers-by
2.5.2 THE POSSESSIVE SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH NOUN
The possessive system is the system that indicates that the noun in question
belongs to something / someone. To form the possessive, a noun takes an
apostrophe,’, followed with an s. The apostrophe and the s are referred to as
possessive inflections. Some guidelines on the use of possessive inflections
with the English nouns are given below.
GUIDELINES ON HOW POSSESIVE NOUNS ARE FORMED
I. Singular (count) nouns take apostrophe and -s to form their possessive:
Girl’s wear.
Boy’s room.
Child’s play.
II. Plural (count) nouns that end with -s take only the apostrophe to form
their possessive:
Boys’ styles.
Dogs’ barks.
Elephants’ horn.
III. A plural (count) noun that ends with a letter order than -s forms its
possessive by adding apostrophe and -s:
Children’s games.
Men’s shoes.
Oxen’s hoofs.
IV. English/French names which end with -s (or -x) take both the
apostrophe and -s to form their possessive:
James’s car.
Joses’s house.
Charles’s girlfriend.
V. If the noun is a Hebrew name, only the apostrophe is usually used:
Moses’ beard.
Jesus’ name.
VI. The possessive of compound noun is formed by adding
apostrophe and -s to the last word in the compound:
Daughter-in-law’s gift.
Attorney-general’s speech.
Poet laureate’s work.
VII. If the noun ends with -s or -ss or -ce and the next word begins with
-s, only the apostrophe should be used to form the possessive:
Righteousness’ sake.
Peace’ sake.
VIII. Always be mindful of all these rules when using the English nouns.
1.4 CONCLUSION
We have been able to explore the English nouns in this chapter. In the
next chapter we will look at the English pronouns.
CHAPTER THREE:
THE ENGLISH PRONOUN
3.1 PRONOUN
Pronouns are words that stand in place of nouns in language use. A

pronoun is usually used to indicate someone or something already mentioned
or that will soon be mentioned.
I know Tunde. He is very obedient. I like him.
The words he and I used above are pronouns. They refer to Tunde which had
been mentioned.
I like him. He is very obedient. Bashir is a good boy.
The words him and he used above are pronouns as well. They refer forward to
Bashir who was mentioned in the last sentence.
3.2 CLASSES OF PRONOUN
The classes of pronouns include: personal, possessive, reflexive,

relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite (also called summative
pronouns), and reciprocal.
3.2.1 PERSONAL, POSSESSIVE, AND REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

An elaborate explanation of personal, possessive, and reflexive
pronouns in
tabular form is given below:
Column Column Column Column Column Column
1 2 3a 3b 4a 4b Column
5
Person Reflexive
Number system Case Possessive pronouns
Subjective Objective Adjective/
System Pronoun Determiner
Singular 1st I Me Mine My Myself
2nd You You Yours Your Yourself
3rd He / she / Him / her His / His / her / Himself /

it / it hers / its its herself /
Itself
Blank
Plural 1st We Us Ours Our Ourselves
2nd You You Yours Your Yourselves
3rd They Them Theirs Their Themselves
Personal/possessive/reflexive pronoun table ©2010 Kasimawo R. Stephen
Number System: This system features a grammatical classification of words

that consists of singular and plural. This system helps us to know whether the
word we are considering refers to a single entity or more than one. Back to the
table above, all the words in rows 3-5 are singular while all the ones in rows
6-8 are plural.
Person System: Person is a category used in the classification of pronouns,
possessive adjective (also called possessive determiner), and verb forms
according to whether they indicate the speaker (1st person), the addressee or
listener (2nd person), or the person or thing being spoken about (3rd person).
Back to the table, under column 2, we have the symbols 1st, 2nd, 3rd inserted
into rows 3-8. This means that all the pronouns in rows 3 and 6 are 1st person
pronouns. To go further, all the pronouns in row 3 are 1st person singular
pronouns, while all the pronouns in row 6 are 1st person plural pronouns. All
the pronouns in row 4 are 2nd person singular pronouns while all the pronouns
in row 7 are 2nd person plural pronouns. All the pronouns in row 5 are 3rd
person singular pronouns while all the pronouns in row 8 are 3rd person plural
pronouns.
Case: In grammar, case refers to the form a word takes (in terms of spelling)
that expresses the meaning relation of such a word to other words in the
sentence.
Subjective case is the form a pronoun takes (in terms of spelling) if such a
pronoun is to function as the subject of the clause. Subject of the clause is the
part of the clause about which something is said (or depending on the context,
the part that performs an action). Objective case is the form a pronoun takes if
it is to function as the complement (object/complement in traditional grammar)
of the clause. The complement of the clause is the part of the clause that
completes what is being said about the subject (or the part that receives the
action being carried out by the subject).(a clause is a group of words that has
verb and makes sense. A sentence is a group of words that has verb and makes
complete sense. More is said about these two in the appropriate chapters.)
Back to the table above, all the pronouns under column 3a from rows 3
– 8are subjective case pronouns. They can and must only be used as subjects of
the clause. As well, all the pronouns under column 3b from row 3 – 8 are
objective case pronouns. They can and must only be used as the complements
of the clause.
Possessive System: This is the form of a pronoun that indicates possession. In
column 4a from row 3 - 8, all the pronouns we have are possessive pronouns.
In column 4b, from row 3 – 8, all the words we have are possessive
determiners (or possessive adjectives). Note that a possessive determiner
cannot be used to end a sentence but a possessive pronoun can be used to do
so.
The food is mine.

Not
*The food ismy.*
Reflexive Pronouns: These are pronouns that refer back to the subject of the
clause in which they are used. All the pronouns in column 5 from row 3 – 8 are
reflexive pronouns.
SUMMARY OF THE PRONOUN TABLE
PRONOUN CLASSIFICATION
I ------ 1st person singular subjective case

Me ------ 1st person singular objective case
Mine ------ 1st person singular possessive
My ------ 1st person singular possessive
determiner/adjective
Myself ------ 1st person singular reflexive
You ------ 2nd person singular subjective case
You ------ 2nd person singular objective case
Yours ------ 2nd person singular possessive
Your ------ 2nd person singular possessive
Yourself ------ 2nd person singular reflexive
He/she/it ----- 3rd person singular subjective case

Him/her/it ----- 3rd person singular objective case
His/hers/its ----- 3rdperson singular possessive
His/her/its ----- 3rd person singular possessive
Himself/herself/itself --- 3rd person singular reflexive
We ------ 1st person plural subjective case

Us ------ 1st person plural objective case
Ours ------ 1st person plural possessive
Our ------ 1st person plural possessive determiner/adjective
Ourselves ------ 1st person plural reflexive
You ----- 2nd person plural subjective case

You ----- 2nd person plural objective case
Yours ----- 2nd person plural possessive
Your ------ 2nd person plural possessive
Yourselves ------ 2nd person plural reflexive
They ----- 3rd person plural subjective case

Them ------ 3rd person plural objective case
Theirs ------ 3rd person plural possessive
Their ------ 3rd person plural possessive determiner/adjective
Themselves ------ 3rd person plural reflexive
GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Based on the principle of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person categorisation, a

given formula can be derived and followed as a guide when a need arises to
use more than one personal pronoun. This is the formula:
2:3:1
In this formula, 2 stands for all 2nd person pronouns, 3 stands for all 3rd
person pronouns, and 1 stands for all 1st person pronouns. From this formula,
2:3:1, we can simply have 2:3, 2:1, and 3:1. This is explained as follows:
I. 2:3 This means the 2nd person pronoun comes before the 3rd
person pronoun.
You and he/they were the chosen ones. (subjective case)

He spoke about you and her/them. (objective case)
II. 2:1 This means that the 2nd person pronoun comes before the
1st person pronoun.
You and I/we will do it. (subjective case)
They invited you and me/us. (objective case)

III. 3:1 this means that the 3rd person pronoun comes before the 1st
person pronoun.
They/he/she/it and I/we were invited. (subjective case)

The gift is for them and him/her/it/me/us. (objective case)
MORE GUIDELINES
IV. The 1st person singular subjective case (i.e. I) is always spelled
in capital if it occurs as a single word in a sentence; it does not matter
whether it occurs at the beginning, middle or end of a sentence. It takes
plural verb always.
I told you I would be there.

Not
*I told you i would be there.*
V. Use only the subjective case pronoun to occupy the subject

position.
You and I will go for it.

Not
*You and me will go for it.*
VI. Use only the objective case pronoun to occupy the complement
position.
It is for you and me.

Not
*it is for you and I.*
VII. Whenever any of between, than, let, or to is to be followed with
(one or more) personal pronoun, such a pronoun should be in the
objective case.
The secret is only between you and me.

He is taller than me.
To him, she is a good girl.
Let him do it.
VIII. Do not confuse or interchange its, their, theirs, whose, his, with
it’s, there, there’s, who’s, is.
This is its food.

Not
*This is it’s food.*
I will be there.
Not
*I will be their.*
This ball is theirs.

Not
*This ball is there’s.*
Whose food is this?

Not
*Who’s food is this?*
This is his clothe.
Not
*This his is clothe.*
Ix. The second person pronoun (i.e. you), be it singular or plural,

takes plural verb.
You are to go alone.

You people are hardworking!
X. Always follow all the guidelines above in your use of the studied
pronouns.
3.2.2 RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Relative pronouns are pronouns that refer to an expressed or implied

antecedent and attach a subordinate clause to it (for more on subordinate
clauses see the chapter on clause). Relative pronouns function as subject in
relative clauses. that is
why the clause in which any of them functions (as subject) is referred to as
relative clause. Examples of relative pronouns include who, whom, which,
whose, and that. They are used to introduce relative clauses.
This is the boy who did the job. (expressed antecedent)

I do not know who did the job. (implied antecedent)
This is the man who owns the job. (expressed antecedent)
The bag that was lost is new.
This is the lady whom I told you about.
Note that some relative pronouns also function as interrogative pronouns. It is

the context of usage that determines whether the pronoun functions either as
relative or interrogative.
3.2.3 INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
Interrogative pronoun include who, whom, which, why, when, where,

and what. They are given the name interrogative because they are used to ask
questions. The clause in which they function (as subject) is referred to as
interrogative clause. They function as subject of such a clause. Below are
some guidelines on their usage:
1. What: As an interrogative pronoun, what is used to ask for information

about specific things. It is usually used to ask for information when the
target of the question is more than one. That is, when there are unlimited
number of options/alternatives to choose from.
What is your name?

What is the time? (not *what says the time*)
What do you want?
Names cannot be counted and time cannot also.
2. Which: As an interrogative, which is used to request for information in a
situation where there are limited number of options/alternatives to choose
from.
Which of the balls is yours?

Which level/class are you?
Note that if there are limited numbers of classes to which the person
being interrogated could belong, it is grammatical to use which and not
what.
III. Who: This is used to ask for information about a person or people.
Who is she?
Who did it?
IV. Whom: This is an objective case pronoun. It always functions as

the complement.
You said whom?

It was the fault of whom?
V. Why, when, where: these are used to request information about the
reason behind something (why), time (when), and place (where).
Why did you say that?

When will you go?
Where were you?
3.2.4 DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
Demonstrative pronouns are used to point at locations, and there are

just two of them: this, that. They draw attention to number and range.
Remember that number system indicates singularity and plurality. Range is the
distance between the speaker and the person/thing being referred to.
SINGULAR PLURAL
this these
that those
This and that are used to refer to persons/things that are within close range
while that and those are used for persons/things that are not within close range.
Both the demonstrative pronouns (singular or plural form) can function as
subject and complement in clauses.
3.2.5 SUMMATIVE PRONOUNS
Summative pronouns (also called indefinite pronouns) are pronouns

used to generally refer to a group of entities. They consist of a large number of
items, many of which can also function as members of other word classes.
They can be roughly divided into five groups based on the similarities in their
functions.
GROUP 1: This consists of each, all, everyone, everybody, and everything.
They can function as both subject and complement of the clause. Each of these
pronouns is used with singular verb.
All is well. (subject)

I gave all out. (complement)
Each was well submitted. (subject)
I submitted each in the right place. (complement)
Everybody/everyone/everything is okay. (subject)
I gave everybody/everyone/everything. (complement)
GROUP 2: This group consists of several and enough. Both can be used as
subject and complement of the clause. Each of these pronouns takes singular
verb.
Enough is enough. (subject and complement)
Speaker A: How many wives do you want?

Speaker B: Several would be enough for me.
I prefer several. (subject and complement)
GROUP 3: This group has only one member: one. One is the only member of
this group. It takes singular verb and can function as subject as well as
complement in the clause.
One is not sure of what one can do. (subject)

Sometimes fortune smiles on one. (complement)
GROUP 4: This group consists of some, any, someone, somebody, something,

anything, anyone and anybody. They take singular verb and can function as
subject as well as complement in the clause. But some can also take plural
verb.
SUBJECT
Some is okay.
Some are here.
Someone is here.
Somebody is around.
Something is in our cupboard.
Any is not bad.
Anyone who wins gets the prize.
Anybody is okay for me as husband.
COMPLEMENT
I need some.
I saw someone just now.
I need somebody who is caring.
There is something under our bed
Please take any.
Vegetable is good for everyone.
I don’t want to see anyone.
GROUP 5: This group consists of neither, either, none, nobody, nothing, and
no one. These pronouns function both as subject as well as complement in the
clause. They take singular verb.
SUBJECT
Neither was recovered.

None is available now.
Nobody is around.
Nothing is needed.
No one is perfect.
Either is alright.
COMPLEMENT
I want neither.
I couldn’t find either.
There is none around.
I saw nobody.
There is nothing.
There is no one around.
3.2.6 RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
Reciprocal pronouns include each other and one another. Each other
is
usually preferred if two persons/thing are being referred to while one another
is preferred when more than two persons/things are referred to.
The two friends exchanged gifts with each other.

The members of the club exchanged warm
greetings with one another.
3.3 CONCLUSION
We have taken some study of the English pronouns. The next chapter
features a study of the English verb.
CHAPTER FOUR:
THE ENGLISH VERB
4.1 VERB
Verb is a very important word class in English grammar. Without a

verb, there cannot be a clause or a sentence. In fact, one verb is strong enough
to be a clause or a sentence. We will begin by considering what a verb is. A
verb is popularly referred to as action word. Referring to verb as action word
restricts its usage to just one of its several usage. A verb does not necessarily
express an action. In some contexts, it does not. In example 1 below, it
expresses an action but in the example two, it does not.
1. The hunter killed a snake.

2. The hunter is sick.
The verb killed as used in example one expresses an action, but the verb is as
used in example two expresses a state of being, not an action. Example two
therefore, nullifies the definition of a verb as action word. Drawing from its
function in grammar, a verb can be explained as the word class used to
express action and states in the clause.
4.2 CLASSES OF VERB
Three classes of verb are identified: auxiliary, lexical/main, and

catenative. We will look at them one after the other.
4.2.1 THE AUXILIARY VERBS

Auxiliary verbs are also referred to helping verbs. They are verbs used
to
precede a lexical/main verb in the clause/sentence. They need the presence of
a lexical verb in order to be able to appear/function in any piece of language
use. Auxiliary verbs are usually divided into primary and modal.
4.2.1.1 PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERBS
Primary auxiliary verbs are so named by virtue of their simplicity. All

they do is carrying out helping (i.e. auxiliary) functions as is expected. They
are of three types of primary auxiliary verbs: do-form, have-form, and be-
form.
DO-FORM PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERBS
Do-form primary auxiliary verbs include do, does and did. Do is plural,
does is singular, while did is the past form of both do and does. Note that
whenever any of these verbs is used, the following lexical verb must be in
plural form (see the guides on lexical verbs in this chapter). It does not matter
whether the subject of the clause is singular or not. It does not matter whether
the event is past or present. A lexical verb is singular when it ends with -s, and
it is plural when it does not.
We do sing in school.
He does obey his parents.
Bala did work hard during his lifetime.
HAVE-FORM PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERBS
Have-form primary auxiliary verbs include has, have, having and had.
Of these, has is singular, have is plural, having is the continuous form (of both
has and have), and had is the past of both has and have. Whenever any of
these verbs is used, the following lexical verb must be in the past participle.
She has gone.

They have gone.
They had done the job.
I should do it again having done it before?
BE-FORM PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERB
Be-form primary auxiliary verbs include am/is, was, are, were, be,
being, been. Is is singular, am is plural, was is the past form of both is and
am. Are is plural. Were is the past form of are. As auxiliary verbs, be, being,
and been are non-finite. This means that they do not indicate number (i.e.
singularity/plurality), person (i.e. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd), nor tense (present,
progressive, past/past participle or future).
The lexical verb that follows any of the be-form primary auxiliary verbs
must either end with -ing (i.e. must be in the progressive) or be in the past
participle. It does not matter whether the situation being spoken about occurred
in the present, in the past or is to happen later in the future. Consider the
following examples carefully (note that being already ends with –ing; it does
not need to be followed with another verb that ends with -ing.).
He is looking at me.
I am singing.
I was eating.
They are talking.
They were discussing.
I will be going tomorrow.
I have been doing it.
Only this one is left.
It was kept in the cupboard.
Your people are well spoken of.
They all were informed.
You will be punished.
They are being disciplined.
It has been finished.
It is done.
It was done the wrong way.
They are forgiven.
We were taken home by our dad.
IMPORTANT NOTES
It should be noted that almost any of the primary auxiliary verbs stated
above can also function as a lexical verb. This occurs when any of them
functions as the only verb in a clause/sentence. The verbs is, am, was, are,
were, has, have, had, do, does
and did are usually so used.
This is good.
I am here.
I was there.
They are good people.
The three of them were at the party.
I have a pen.
Mary has the book.
Ben had a boat.
James did the work.
Kunle does it better.
We do it best.
When used in this way, they would not be referred to as auxiliary verbs
anymore, but as lexical verbs.
4.2.1.2 MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS
Modal auxiliary verbs include can, could, will, would, may, might,
must, ought, dare, and need. These are also helping verbs; they are followed
with lexical verbs. Unlike the primary auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliary verbs
cannot function as lexical verb in any context. Modal auxiliary verbs are used
to show the mood of the lexical verbs that follow them.
Whenever any of these is used, the following lexical verb should be in
plural form (it does not matter whether the subject of the clause/sentence is
singular or the event happened in the past). A lexical verb is singular when it
ends with -s and it is plural when it does not end with -s.
4.2.1.2.1 THE USE OF THE MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS
I. Will: This is used to express –
Willingness: I will do it for you.

Intention : We will go to Lagos tomorrow.
Prediction:They will be late for work.
II. Would: This can be used as the past form of will. But it also
stands as distinct word on its own. It is used to express –
Willingness (addressee): Would you buy me the car?

Insistence: There are no two ways about it; you would repair
the car since you are at fault.
Habitual: Each hour, students would move from room to
room and would be taught by different teachers.
Hypothetical: Without an alarm, she would sleep round the
clock.
Possibility: That would be daddy arriving.
Politeness:Would you please shut the door? (Note that the
use of will in this context would be considered rude).
III. Shall:Shall is used to express –
Legal insistence: All citizens shall obey the constitution of the

land. (This is the most common of the three
uses of shall).
Willingness (speaker): You shall be paid next week.
Intention (speaker): I shall not be long.
IV. Should: Should is the formal past of shall. It functions as a distinct

word on its own as well. It is used to express –
Necessity: Patients should carry out their doctor’s

instructions.
Unexpectedness: You should not say that of Bala.
Hypothetical: Nigerian politicians should hang their
heads in
shame.
Tentativeness: Should you change your mind, let me know.
V. Can: Can is used to express –
Ability: I can lift a car.

Possibility: We can win the tournament if we persist.
Permission:She can use my room till we return.
VI. Could: Could is the past form of can. It is used to express –
Ability: He could never drive though he had ten

cars.
Possibility: Though it will be expensive, the river could be
dammed.
Permission:Could I leave by bag here?
VII. May: May is ideal in formal context. It is used to express –
Possibility: It may rain this evening.

Permission:Passengers may smoke now.
VIII. Might: Might is the past form of may. It is used to express –
Possibility: There might be some substance in her story.

Permission:Late registration might be brought by hand.
IX. Must: This is used to express –
Compulsion: You must be there.

Strong prediction: They must have gone somewhere
else.
X. Ought: Ought is usually followed by to. Ought is used to express –
Necessity: You ought to go now.
XI. Dare: Dare is used to express –
Threat: you dare not move.
XII. Need: This is used to express –
Advisory necessity: you need not obey inhuman laws.
IMPORTANT NOTE
With I and we, shall should be used to form the simple future tense
(expressing a prediction of a future action), while will is used to express an
intention to do something.
We/I shall be late for work.
I/we will not tolerate rudeness.
With you, he, she, it, and they, the situation is reversed: simple future action
is expressed with will (i.e. expressing the prediction of a future action), while
shall is used in expressing intention or command.
He will be late for work.
They shall leave now.
You shall do it or die.
The situation is similar with should and would. Strictly speaking, should is
used with I and we while would is used with you, he, she, it, and they.
I should be grateful you would let me know.
4.2.1.3 THE CATENATIVE VERB
Catenative verbs are also helping verbs. They are used to precede the
lexical verb. Catenative verbs do not come in types. They are the lexical verbs
functioning as helping (or auxiliary) verbs.
Please help close the door.
He kept speaking for hours.
Make do with what you have.
I enjoy playing football.
I hate singing bad song.
4.2.2 THE LEXICAL/MAIN VERB
Lexical (or main) verb is also known as full verb. They are referred to
as lexical verbs because they carry lexical meaning in addition to grammatical
functions such as tense, aspect, voice, transitivity, finiteness, etc. Lexical verbs
are innumerable in English. Lexical verbs have a common behaviour referred
to as morphological behaviour.
4.2.2.1 MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEXICAL

VERB
The lexical verb has five morphological characteristics. These include

singularity, plurality, progressive (present participle), past, and past participle.
A lexical verb is singular when it ends with -s (or -es), and it is plural when it
does not. It is in the progressive form when it ends with -ing. It is in pastor in
the past participle form when it ends with -d, -ed or -en. See the table below:
(note that verbs whose past and past participle forms end with -d or -ed are
referred to as regular verbs while those that do not follow this principle are
referred to as irregular verbs)
Singular Plural Progressive Past Past participle

needs need needing needed needed
looks look looking looked looked
sees see seeing saw seen
goes go going went gone
gets get getting got got
awakes awake awaking awoke awoken
runs run running ran run
bears bear bearing bore borne
pants pant panting panted panted
becomes become becoming became became
speaks speak speaking spoke spoken
cooks cook cooking cooked cooked
cleaves cleave cleaving clove/cleft cloven/cleft/cleaved
abides abide abiding abided abided
broadcasts broadcast broadcasting broadcast broadcast/broadcasted
puts put putting put put
shoes shoe shoeing shod shod
cuts cut cutting cut cut
hits hit hitting hit hit
spits spit spitting spit / spat spit / spat
redoes redo redoing redid redone
reads read reading read read
lays lay laying laid laid
lies lie lying lay lain
lies lie lying lied lied
has have having had had
is am / are being was/were been
does do doing did done
GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF THE ENGLISH LEXICAL VERBS
I. Singular lexical verb is used with singular subject.
He goes to school early.

She cooks well.
II. Plural lexical verb is used with plural subject.
They are good people.

The people are reliable.
III. Past form of lexical verb should be used if the event being
described occurred in the past.
I saw him yesterday.

I took it home.
IV. The progressive form and the past participle forms are non-finite
forms (i.e. they do not indicate number, tense, or person). They require
the presence of auxiliary verb in other to be able to function in language
use.
I was singing before you came in.
He has gone.
4.2.2.2 PARTICIPLES
Participles are of two types: the present participle (ending with -ing
e.g. Singing), and the past participle (ending with -d, or -ed but some end with
-t or -en e.g. died, needed, kept, spoken).
The old man has died.
You are urgently needed.
It is well kept.
You have no problem; you are well spoken of.
Participles are often used to introduce subordinate clauses (see the chapter on
the English clause for more on subordinate clauses) that are attached to other
words in a sentence.
Her mother, opening the door quietly, came into the room.
Hearing a voice, I went to look.
Participles at the beginning of a sentence (as in the sentences above) are

acceptable in the grammar of English, but when overused, they can produce
poor style, especially when the clauses they introduce bear little relation to the
main one.
*being blind from birth, she became a teacher.*
A worse stylistic error occurs with so-called unattached, misrelated, or

dangling participles when the participle does not refer to the subject of the
clause/sentence to which it is attached.
*recently converted to apartments, I passed

by the house where I grew up.*
Semantically, this sentence implies that the writer has recently been converted
into apartments. See the example below as well:
*driving home recently, a pall of smoke turned

out to be a bungalow well alighted.*
4.2.2.3 THE SUBJUNCTIVE
The subjunctive is a special form of verb expressing a wish or

possibility instead of fact. It has limited role in English.
It was suggested that he wait till the next morning.

It has been decreed that men and women be
strictly segregated.
In these sentences, the verbs wait and be are in the subjunctive. The ordinary
forms (called indicative) are waits and are. There are other typical uses of the
subjunctive. Some are given below.
I. It is used after if (and after as if, as though, unless) in hypothetical
conditions.
If it were to be done, let it be done.
II. Be and were can be in the subjunctive at the beginning of a clause with
the subject following.
Were I to get drunk, it would help me in the fight.
All books, be they fiction or non-fiction, should
provide entertainment in one way or the other.
3. The subjunctive is also seen in certain fixed expressions and phrases.
Be that as it may.
Come what may.
Perish the thought.
So be it.
In most cases, an alternative construction (e.g. with should or might) can also
be used:
It was suggested that he should wait till I come.
In negative constructions, not (or never) is normally placed before the

subjunctive verb.
Again he insisted that you not be followed.
4.2.2.4 FINITENESS
Finiteness is a two-way system which subdivides all English verbs into

finite and non-finite. Lexical verbs are finite when they are in singular, plural,
and past forms.
He keeps my money.
They keep our money.
He cooked the food.
A lexical verb is non-finite when it is in participle form (i.e. progressive or in

past participle) or when it is preceded by to.
This is the way to go.

Seeing that he had gone, I went another way.
Taken by surprise, the intruder panicked and fainted.
Finite verbs help create finite clauses while non-finite verbs help create non-
finite clauses.
4.2.2.5 TRANSITIVITY
Transitivity is a system with two members, namely: transitivity and

intransitivity. Lexical verbs can either be transitive or intransitive. A transitive
verb requires an object in the complement position of the clause. The action
expressed by transitive verb is transferred to an object. This is why it is called
transitive.
John killed the goat.

Bode kicked the ball.
An intransitive verb does not require an object:
I ate well.
I sleep soundly daily.
The earth quaked.
4.2.2.6 VOICE
In grammar, voice, refers to a form or set of forms of a verb showing the
relation of the subject to the action. As a system, it has two parts: active, and
passive. In the active voice, the subject is followed with a verb which in turn
is followed with a complement (called object/complement in traditional
grammar).
Abdul rang the bell.
Andrew ate the food.
In the passive voice, the position of the subject and that of the complement are
interchanged such that the complement comes before the verb and the subject
comes last. The preposition by is introduced.
The bell was rung by Abdul.

The food was eaten by Andrew.
Other forms of passive include:
Impersonal construction with it:

It is believed that no action should be taken.
It is felt that your complaints arise from misunderstanding.
This is a style found in official documents and reports which usually seek to
avoid the personal responsibility that is implied by the active voice. See the
following as well:
We (instead of I) feel that your complaints arise

from misunderstanding.
This style is not suitable for ordinary writing and speaking.
Other verbs beside ‘be-form’ can be used to form so-called semi-

passives:
He got changed.
They seem bothered.
Here changed and bothered behave more like adjectives.
Double passive: This construction occurs with verbs such as

attempt, begin, desire, endeavour, propose, threaten, and
others involving constructions with a passive infinitive.
The order was attempted to be carried out.
Avoid this kind of construction when there is no corresponding active form:
*They attempted the order to be carried out.*
Use a fully active construction instead:
They attempted to carry out the order.
In some cases, the sentence can be rephrased, for example:

There was an attempt to carry out the order.
Other verbs such as expect, extend, and order, which are grammatically
versatile, will allow a double passive construction:
They ordered the deserters to be shot.
Therefore, a double passive form is allowed:
The deserters were ordered to be shot.
4.2.2.7 TIME, TENSE, AND ASPECT
The words time and tense are not synonymous. Time refers to the
indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and
future, regarded as a whole. Time is divisible into three. The divisions are:
past (covering from the last second to infinity), present (covering the middle
ground with the moment of speaking as its centre), and future (covering the next
second after a speech to infinity).
Tense, however, is the linguistic feature for handling time relations
(past, present, and future) in speech. Tense defers from language to language.
Tense is expressed by the verb. Aspect refers to a category or form of a verb
which expresses a feature of the action related to time, such as completion or
duration/process depicted by the verb. Aspect is divided into two:
progressive, and perfect.
The form of tense used to express past event(s) is referred to as past
tense (this is made possible through the use of verb in the past or in the past
participle form). The form of the tense used to express present event(s) is
referred to as present tense (this is made possible through the use of verb in the
singular or plural form). The form of tense used to express future event(s) is
referred to as future tense (this is made possible through the use of the modal
auxiliary verbs shall and will).
4.2.2.7.1 THE PAST TENSE
The past tense is used to express past events. It can be divided into:
simple past, past progressive, and past perfect.
SIMPLE PAST TENSE
This type of tense features the use of the past form of the English lexical verb.
They were around.

I slept.
She called my name.
They did not do it.
THE PAST PROGRESSIVE (CONTINUOUS) TENSE
This features the use of the progressive (present participle) lexical verb,
preceded by a primary auxiliary verb.
I was going when I met him.

The children were playing around it yesterday.
THE PAST PERFECT TENSE
The past perfect tense features the use of had along with past participle
verb. This type of tense often features in the complex sentence.
It had been done before you came.

I had left before you took that decision.
USES OF THE PAST TENSE
1. It is used to refer to past time.
I was there last week.

He ate well.
II. It is used in indirect speech. Indirect speech (another term for

reported speech) is a speaker’s words reported in subordinate clauses
governed by a reporting verb, with the required changes of person and
tense, while direct speech is the reporting of speech by using the actual
words of a speaker.
Speaker: I am coming.
Reporter 1:‘I am coming’, she said. (direct speech)
Reporter 2: She said she was coming. (indirect speech)
III. The past tense is also used to show politeness by the speaker to the
addressee.
I wondered if you could help me.

IV. It is also used to express hypothetical past. Hypothetical involves
an event which might have taken place in the past but which did not
actually occur.
If I were (or was) you, I would resign.

It is time we left.
I wish I were (or was) there.
4.2.2.7.2 THE PRESENT TENSE
The present tense can also be divided into three: simple present, present
progressive, and present perfect.
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
The simple present tense features the use of singular and plural forms of
the lexical verb: auxiliary verbs are also used.
She sings.
They sing.
I pray everyday.
He prays always.
They are kind.
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE
This tense features the use of is, am, and are followed with lexical verb in
the progressive form.
I am jumping.
I am reading.
Your phone is ringing.
They are talking.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
This features the use of has, have followed with lexical verb in the past
participle form.
I have spoken.
He has decided.
USES OF THE PRESENT TENSE
The present tense can be used to express present, past, and future events.
USING THE PRESENT TENSE TO EXPRESS PRESENT EVENTS
I. The present tense is often used when there is no likelihood of a

change occurring in the state being described. This can be either
universal or habitual.
Man is the wisest creature on earth.(universal)

Oil floats on water. (universal)
Tunde walks to the office daily. (habitual)
II. It is used when the action goes on simultaneously with its description.
This usage is found in sports commentary, instructional demonstration,
exclamation, and performative declarations.
Okocha collects the ball, beats one, beats two, takes a

shot….
(sports commentary)
I now pour the solution into the test tube, I place the test
tube on a burner and heat the solution…. (instructional
demonstration)
Here comes the most beautiful girl in the world!! (exclamation)
We acknowledge your last letter. (performative declaration)
We demand an explanation of your actions. (performative

declaration)
USING THE PRESENT TENSE TO EXPRESS PAST EVENTS
This usage involves the use of communicative verbs such as tell, inform,
hear, learn, write, see, etc. Here, it is used to express the persistence of the
effect of a past communication.
Your mum sends her greetings.

I hear you are starting your own business.
They tell us your dad is sick.
I am told you are travelling.
This usage is common in literary criticism. Though the time in which the
literary texts are written might be in the past, they are discussed using the
present tense.
Shakespeare says the quality of mercy is not strained.

Soyinka writes, ‘ism for ism is ism of absolutism.’
USING THE PRESENT TENSE TO EXPRESS FUTURE EVENTS
This is exemplified in the following:

The ship leaves Nigeria for Ghana next week.
The managing director leaves for Lagos at noon.
As soon as she arrives, I’ll inform you.
4.2.2.7.3 THE FUTURE TENSE
The future tense is formed with shall, will, going to, and present tense
(as explained above).
I shall travel tomorrow.

They will go and see him next week.
She is going to have a baby.
4.2.4 SPECIAL VERBS: VERBS OF PERCEPTION
These are verbs we use when we refer to the obtaining of knowledge

through the five senses or through the mind. The chief verbs of perception are
see, hear, smell, taste, feel. A few other verbs may be placed in this class e.g.
Notice, observe, recognize. These verbs, as a rule, are not used in the
progressive tense, except with a change of meaning. They are explained below.
I. See and hear: These two are closely related with look and listen. Look
and listen refer to voluntary activities that may continue over a period of time.
This means that look and listen can be used in the progressive tense. But
seeing and hearing are often involuntary. See the following examples:
We saw the man walk past, but we did not look at him.
I heard the man saying something but did not listen to him.
Note that an effort to perceive may be implied with see and hear. In this case,
can/could may be used. See the following sentences:
When he looked towards the direction, he saw/could see nothing.

We listened so well but heard/could hear nothing.
See these other examples:
a) Can you see her in the crowed?

b) Did you see the man on TV last night?
c) Could he hear you when you called him?
Note that when see is used with a meaning different from that illustrated in
example a), b), and c) above, then it may be in the progressive form. In such
cases, see may mean ‘meet’, ‘have a talk or interview with’. It may also take
an adverb or preposition, e.g. see somebody off/up/down/out; or see to (i.e.
attend to) something. The following examples are used in this sense:
My boss is seeing his engineer tomorrow.
You son is seeing a lot of my daughter (i.e. meeting her often,
spending a lot of time with her) these days.
Who is seeing to the arrangement of the occasion?
When hear has a legal meaning, (e.g. ‘try’), it
may be used in the progressive tense.
Which judge is hearing your case?
II. Smell: The verb smell is used in several ways. When the reference
is to something involuntary, the simple present tense or can and the
infinitive may be used.
Do you smell something burning?
On the other hand, when there is a conscious effort of perception can is

preferred.
Can you smell something burning?
When smell means ‘send out an odour’, the simple tense is used.
You smell nice; what’s your secret?
When smell is used to indicate a conscious and deliberate use of sense of

perception, implying that the activity may continue, the progressive tense is
possible.
Speaker A: Why are you smelling my food?

Speaker B: To find out whether it’s good for me.
III. Taste: The verb taste is used in various ways. See the following
examples:
The food tastes so good.

Did you taste the drink?
I am tasting the soup to find out whether
It is good enough to be eaten.
IV. Feel: The verb feel is used in the following ways:
The bedclothes feel damp (i.e. are damp when felt).

This material feels like rayon (i.e. are like rayon to the feel).
I feel good.
The doctor was feeling the boy’s
arm to see if there was a fracture.
Notice that in the last example the progressive tense is used to indicate a
deliberate and conscious activity. When the verb see is used in the sense of
sight, it is a verb of physical perception. We also use the verb see for mental
perception, that is, understanding something through the mind.
I can see the force of your argument.

I see what you mean.
When see has the meaning with which it is used in the above examples, it is
not used in the progressive tense. For example we do not say
*I’m beginning to see what you mean*
4.3 CONCLUSION
We have studied the English verbs, how they are used, and the rules
guiding their usage. In the next chapter we will look into two word classes:
adjectives and adverbs.
CHAPTER FIVE:
THE ENGLISH ADJECTIVE & ADVERB
5.1 THE ENGLISH ADJECTIVES
Adjectives, as we know, are words naming attributes of nouns or

pronouns.
Ben is a good man.

He is a nice person.
An adjective tells us more about a noun (or pronoun) by identifying

specific quality in such a noun. The English adjective has three morphological
behaviours: positive, comparative and superlative.
The positive form of an adjective expresses a quality in its basic,
primary degree. The comparative form expresses a higher degree of quality,
while the superlative form expresses the highest or very high degree of a
quality. The inflection -er or -ier is added to an adjective in the positive form
in order to have the comparative form, while the inflection -est or -iest is
added to the comparative form to have the superlative.
Positive Comparative Superlative

close closer closest
fast faster fastest
goodly goodlier goodliest
handsome handsomer handsomest
happy happier happiest
heavy heavier heaviest
holy holier holiest
kinky kinkier kinkiest
lively livelier liveliest
lonely lonelier loneliest
long longer longest
lousy lousier lousiest
lovely lovelier loveliest
lowly lowlier lowliest
lucky luckier luckiest
meek meeker meekest
mighty mightier mightiest
quiet quieter quietest
sorry sorrier sorriest
stable stabler stablest
strong stronger strongest
tall taller tallest
timid timider timidest
worthy worthier worthiest
5.1.1 MORPHOLOGY OF THE ENGLISH ADJECTIVE
Some adjectives, however, have different morphological behaviour.

This means that there are some which do not take -er, -ier, -est, nor –iest to
form either the comparative or the superlative. Instead, what we have is a total
word-change. For some, as well, we do not have word-change, rather they take
the words more and most to form their comparatives and superlatives
respectively. See the following:
TOTAL WORD-CHANGE
much more most
good better best
bad worse worst
well better best
SOME ADD MORE / MOST
Positive Comparative Superlative )

able more able most able
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
dangerous more dangerous most dangerous
heavenly more heavenly most heavenly
homely more homely most homely
indigenous more indigenous most indigenous
intellectual more intellectual most intellectual
kidding more kidding most kidding
kind more kind most kind
perilous more perilous most perilous
reliable more reliable most reliable
At this juncture, it is important to state that it is completely

ungrammatical to use double comparatives or double superlatives immediately
after each other. See the following common bad usage:
*more faster*
*most tallest/fastest*
Do not forget this simple rule.
5.2 THE ENGLISH ADVERBS
The word class adverb is used to express relation of place, time,

circumstance, manner and degree.
Go slowly.
He spoke intelligently.
Adverbs are relatively easy to understand because most of them end with -ly:
Painfully
Intelligently
Carelessly
Gloriously
Luckily
Soundly
Wisely
Beautifully etc.
Some of them however do not end with -ly:
Do the job well.

I seldom see him.
I like him though.
She is there.
Like adjectives, some adverbs also have positive, comparative, and
superlative forms. These forms are usually hardly thought of as also pertaining
to adverbs as well. Perhaps the reason could be that some of such adverbs can
also function as adjectives. Here, the context of usage would determine the
class to which the word belongs. Some (adverbs) are given in the table below:

early earlier earliest
late later latest
slow slower slowest
hard harder hardest
quick quicker quickest
long longer longest
soon sooner soonest
good better best
far farther farthest
far further furthest It can only be done earliest
Monday.
It would be done latest/soonest Monday.
You must be at work earlier than 8 0’clock.
I know him; he handles matters like such harder than normal.
You went longer/farther than necessary.
Do it quick!
Make it slower/quicker please.
I will see you soon/later.
Adjectives and adverbs simply tell us more about other word classes.
They tell more about nouns/pronouns, and verbs. They also tell us more about
other adjectives and adverbs as well. See the example below:
Very beautiful. (adverb + adjective)

Very beautifully. (adverb + adverb)
5.3 CONCLUSION
We have been able to consider the English adjectives and adverbs with
focus on some details. We will focus on prepositions and conjunctions in the
next chapter.
CHAPTER SIX:
THE ENGLISH PREPOSITION
& CONJUNCTION
6.1 THE ENGLISH PREPOSITION
Prepositions are words used to express relationships between nominals

(i.e. nouns/pronouns/nominalisations). A preposition is used usually before a
noun/pronoun to show the relationship or the connection between such a
noun/pronoun with another word in the sentence. Examples of prepositions
include in, on, at, with, of, by, etc.
The money is in that bag.

I put it on the table.
He is at the door.
I came with it.
The furniture is made of wood.
It was designed by a good architect.
A preposition relates the noun/pronoun that comes after it to what has

gone before. The saying that a preposition should always precede the word it
governs and should not end a sentence (e.g. What did you put it in?) seem to
have developed from an observation of the 17th century poet, John Dryden.
The poet himself did not always follow this as rule in his own prose. It is not
based on a real appreciation of the structure of English, which regularly
separates words that are grammatically related. There are cases where it is
either impossible or unnatural to organise the sentence in a way that avoids a
final preposition. It is not ungrammatical to use a preposition at the end of a
sentence. It is used:
1. In relative clauses and questions that feature verbs with linked adverbs
or prepositions:
Where is she going to?

They must be convinced of the commitment they are taking to.
Where you are going depends on where you are coming
from.
II. In passive constructions
The chair is yet to be brought in.
III. In short sentences containing an infinitive or a gerund. An infinitive is

the basic form of a verb without an inflection biding it to a subject or
tense (normally occurring in English with the word to as in to see, to
hear, etc.).
There are a number of things I want to talk to you about. (an
infinitive)
It was my smoking she disagreed with. (a gerund)
Examples of prepositions include: in, on, at, to, from, with, by, of, and so
on. Guidelines on the use of these prepositions are given below.
Guidelines on their use as adverbs are also explained.
6.1.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘IN’ AS A PREPOSITION
As a preposition, in is used in expressing the following.
1. It is used in expressing the situation of being enclosed or surrounded by

something:
Make sure you are in your uniform.

I saw him in green shirt yesterday.
We saw him in the garden sitting in an armchair.
Call that man in the hat please.
He was already in bed (i.e. sleeping) when you came.
2. It is used in expressing motion that results in being within or surrounded

by something:
He dipped his hand in ink/dirt/oil.

He packed the car in the road. (i.e. immobile)
(Note: ‘the car is on the road’ means the car is mobile)
3. It is used in expressing a period of time during which an event takes

place or a situation remains the case:
She travelled in May last year.

People get forgetful in their old age.
It happened in the 18th century.
4. It is used in expressing the length of time before a future event is
expected to take place:
The job will be ready in two weeks.

Return in a few minutes/hours/days/weeks/months.
5. It is used in expressing a state, condition, or quality:
He is in love.
She was in haste.
She sits alone in the darkness.
In truth, he loved her.
6. It is used in expressing inclusion or involvement:
The gifts are for those in the team and narrowly,

for those who partook in the tournament.
He was in the play.
7. It is used in indicating someone’s occupation or profession:
He is in the army.
She is in business/journalism/computers/.
8. It is used in indicating the language or medium used:
Speak in English/French/Spanish.
Write it in codes/shorthand/italics.
9. It is used in expressing a value as a proportion (of a whole):
One in ten said they are HIV negative.

Here we have a gradient of one in five.
6.1.1.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘IN’ AS AN ADVERB

As an adverb, in is used in expressing the following.
1. It is used in expressing movement that results in being enclosed or

surrounded by something:
She walked in.

The children are playing at the pool until one
of them fell in.
2. It is used in expressing the situation of being enclosed or surrounded by

something:
I cannot drink pap with milk in.

That shelf is the one with the document in.
3. It is used in expressing being present at one’s home or office:
No one was in when I called.

The director is not in today.
He will not be in until 8 o’clock.
4. It is used in expressing (in cricket) batting (i.e. having a turn in the bat):
Japan were in first.

His service was in.
5. It is used in expressing rising or at the highest level (of the tide):
It’s two o’clock; the tide must be in.

Is the tide coming in or going out.
6. It is used in expressing fashion:
Short skirts are in again.
6.1.2 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘ON’ AS A PREPOSITION

As a preposition, on is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used in expressing a situation of being physically in contact with

and supported by (a surface):
Hang the picture on the wall.

Do not stand on the car/wall/door.
There is a mark on your book/
2. It is used in expressing a situation of being located somewhere in the

general surface of (a place):
The cups are on the table.

The paragraph is on page five.
3. It is used in expressing a situation of something being in possession of

somebody:
Do you have the key on you?

We found the stolen goods on her.
4. It is used to express a condition of forming a distinctive or marked part

of the surface of:
Look at the red painting on the page.

The painting on the wall is beautiful.
5. It is used in expressing a situation of being about; concerning or having

(the thing mentioned) as a basis:
This is the book on grammar.

This programme is on child abuse.
We are on the subject syntax.
Give a lecture on Soyinka.
6. It is used in expressing a situation of being a member of (a committee,
jury, etc.):
He is on the committee/staff/panel/team/jury.
On whose side are you? (i.e. which of the views do you
support?)
7. It is used in expressing a situation of having (the thing mentioned) as a

target, aim or focus:
Government has placed a ban on imports.

Let your attention be on the car.
She walked out on him.
Don’t turn your back on him.
8. It is used in expressing a situation of having (the thing mentioned) as a

medium of transmitting or storing information:
The tune was played on the saxophone.

The data is available on computer/disc/tape.
I sent it to him on 08038023957/Whatsapp/telephone.
9. It is used in expressing a situation of being broadcast by (a radio or

television channel):
He saw/heard the advert on air.
10. It is used in expressing a situation of being in the course of (a journey):
She is on a journey to Wasimi.

(i.e. in the course of a journey to Wasimi)
11. It is used in expressing a situation of travelling in (a public transport):
He is on the plane from New York to Wasimi, Nigeria.

They are already on the bus to Lagos.
12. It is used in indicating a day or part of a day during which an event
takes place:
They arrived on Monday.

It held on the evening of last Friday.
It took place on a rainy day in March.
13. It is used in expressing a situation of being engaged in:
The children are on holiday.

We are here on business.
She is on official errand to New Castle.
14. It is used in expressing ‘at the time of’:
On my arrival, I met them sleeping.

On my request for information about the matter,
I was told to wait.
15. It is used in expressing a situation of regularly taking (a drug or

medicine):
The physician puts her on these tablets.

He lives on fruits and vegetables.
Most cars run on petrol.
16. It is used in expressing being paid for or financed by :
He lives on his pension.

The entire staff can lunch on me today.
17. It is used in expressing ‘added to’:
We enjoyed success on success.

Waves (up) on waves of violence kept spreading.
6.1.2.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘ON’ AS AN ADVERB
As an adverb, on is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used in expressing a situation of being physically in contact with or

supported by something:
Don’t let go. Hang on!

The car crashed head on.
2. It is used in expressing (of clothing) being worn by a person:
Put your coats on.

Why don’t you have your glasses on?
3. It is used in indicating continuation of a movement or action:
Move/walk/run on to the end of the lane.

He started talking from that day on.
On with the dance! (i.e. let the dance begin)
4. It is used in expressing a situation of being further forward; in an

advanced state:
The play was already on when we arrived.

There is a war on.
5. It is used to express a situation of (an event) taking place or being

presented:
Look in the TV guide to see what’s on.

Always let us know what’s on.
That’s a good movie on.
What time is the event on.
6. It is used in expressing a condition (of an event) being due to take place

as planned:
Have you got anything on? (i.e. any plans,

events, appointments)
Is the match on for 3p.m. or 4p.m?
7. It is used to indicate (of an electrical appliance or power supply)

functioning:
The lights are all on.

The phone is on.
Someone left the tap/oven on.
We were without electricity for ten days, but it’s on now.
8. It is used to express (of an actor) on stage:
She is on in ten minutes, do not disturb her.

What time is the group on?
9. It is used to express (of an employee) on duty:
The next doctor is on at 7 p.m.

He is on till 7 a.m.
10. It is used to express in or into a vehicle:
The taxi stopped and two persons got on.

She hurried on to the car.
6.1.3 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘AT’ AS A PREPOSITION
The preposition at is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used in expressing location or arrival in a particular place or

position:
She is at home.
Hold it at arm’s length.
He is at the park/door/pool.
He arrived late at work.
She is at the railway station.
2. It is used in expressing the time when an event takes place:
The party starts at two o’clock.

You can see the stars at night.
3. It is used in expressing the attendance of an educational institution or

workplace:
She schooled at Lagos State University.

He worked at the railway station.
She is at the branch office.
Rinnah and Abiel are at Cambridge. (i.e. University of
Cambridge)
4. It is used in denoting a particular point or segment on a scale:
The price of a litre of fuel rises at alarming rates.

The network fluctuates at two-minute intervals.
He bought the car at half-price.
5. It is used in referring to someone’s age:
She got married at 24.

He left the university at 18.
6. It is used in expressing a particular state or condition:
Your eternity is at risk.

The manager is at lunch.
The parade is standing at ease.
He is at work in the room.
7. It is used in expressing the relationship between an individual and a

skill:
He is quite good/clever/skilled/ at carpentry.

She is good at French.
She is at her best in the morning.
8. It is used in expressing the object or target of a look, shot, action or

plan:
He shot at the bird.
She shouted at me.
His dog rushed at me, wagging its tail.
9. It is used in expressing an incomplete or attempted action:
She could only guess at the meaning of the adage.

The man clutched wildly at the rod as he fell.
10. It is used in expressing the means by which something is done:
He was happy at the outcome.

She became worried at the delay.
11. It is used to denote ‘in response to something’:
She came to the party at my invitation.
6.1.4 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘TO’ AS A PREPOSITION
As a preposition, to is used to express the following.
1. It is used in expressing direction or position in relation to a particular

location, point or condition:
Take this book to the shelf.
It fell to the ground.
Take this child to the hospital.
He tore the letter to pieces.
The political party rose to power.
She sang her baby to sleep.
The mountains are to the east.
2. It is used to denote before the hour specified (in telling time)(this usage
is chiefly British):
Ten minutes to two.

It’s a quarter to seven.
3. It used in identifying the person or thing affected:
It happened to him.
He gave it to him.
4. It is used in identifying a particular relationship between one person or

thing and another.
This is the way to my house.

He played her to me.
She has the solution to the problem.
He has the key to the door.
She is married to my brother.
5. It used to indicate a rate of return on something:
You will get three hundred naira to a US dollar.

The car does ten miles to the gallon.
6. It is used in indicating that two things are attached:
Attach this wire to that iron bar.

Attach this button to your shirt.
7. It is used in governing phrase expressing someone’s reaction to

something:
To my surprise, he agreed!
To our bewilderment, she succumbed.
8. It is used to introduce the second element in a comparison:
When at a party, I prefer watching to dancing.

Global economy today is worse compared to
what it used to be.
9. It is used to express someone’s opinion:
To me, she is a wicked woman.
6.1.4.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘TO’ AS INFINITIVE

MARKER
As infinitive marker, to is used in the following ways.
1. It is used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the
infinitive:
They shouted to us to wait for them.
2. It is used in expressing purpose or intention:
She was about to tell you the truth.

To our bewilderment, she agreed.
3. It is used in forming a future tense with reference to the immediate future

(about to):
She is (about) to go there.

4. It is used in expressing result of something:
He managed to pass the test.

She could not afford to lose.
5. It is used without a verb following when the missing verb is clearly

understood:
They said they didn’t want to.

I would love to play, but I don’t know how to.
6. It is used in expressing obligation:
You are not to talk to anyone during examination.

You are to stand in honour of the President.
7. It is used in expressing the action that you want or are advised to do:
I wish to be there.
This booklet will guide you on how to do the work.
6.1.4.2 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘TO’ AS AN ADVERB
As an adverb, to is used in expressing ‘so as to be closed or nearly closed’ (of

a door):
Push the door to.
6.1.5 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘FROM’ AS A PREPOSITION
As a preposition, from is used to express the following meanings:
1. It is used in expressing the point in a space or time at which a journey, a

process, or an action starts:
He has been smart from cradle.
It is due to be ready an hour from now.
She couldn’t walk well from that day.
2. It is used in expressing source or provenance:
He is from China.
We have evidence from the 11th century.
She loves using quotations from Soyinka.
3. It is used in expressing raw material of manufacture:
Paper is made from wood.

Wine is made from grapes.
4. It is used in expressing starting point of a specified range:
We’ll be available from 7 to 5 Monday to Friday.

Memorize from one to ten words a week.
5. It is used in expressing separation, removal, prevention
She borrowed it from me.

Separate the good from the bad.
He was rescued from the kidnappers.
She took it from my bag.
6. It is used in expressing cause:
He fell ill from exhaustion.

She supported him from a sense of loyalty.
7. It is used in expressing position or point of view:
Seen from above, the city covers a wide area.

From a teacher’s point of view, every child
should go to school.
8. It is used in expressing distinction:
From the way you talk, you’re a German.

From what happened, she hated the man.
9. It is used in expressing state or form before a change:
Global economy has gone from good to bad.
6.1.6 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘WITH’
The preposition with is used to express the following meanings:
1. It is used to express ‘accompanied by’:
He went with his friend.

She wants to go with us.
2. It is used to express ‘possessing, having’:
Are you with my pen?

We need someone with knowledge of German.
Here is a girl with (i.e. who has) red hair.
3. It is used to express ‘in the same direction as’:
Think along with me.

Swim with the tide.
Sail with the wind.
4. It is used to express the instrument used to perform an action or the

material used for a purpose:
Feed the little child with a small spoon.

Cut it with a knife.
Fill the jar with water.
Wash it with soap.
5. It is used to express ‘in opposition to or in support of’
She loves to fight/quarrel/argue with people.

Are you with us on this issue?
6. It is used to express the manner or attitude in which a person does

something:
Don’t stand with your hand in your pocket.

She did it with pleasure.
She spoke with discretion.
7. It is used to express responsibility:
I left it with your secretary.

They keys are with reception.
8. It is used to express ‘in relation to’:
With all you’ve said, I think we should act fast.
9. It is used to express ‘employed by’:
I work with Landmark University.

She is with Diamond bank now.
10. It is used to express ‘using the services of’:
Let’s send it the parcel with a courier company.

We can bank with GT Bank.
11. It is used to express ‘affected by (a particular fact or condition)’:
They trembled with fear.
His fingers are num with cold.
12. It is used to express separation or removal from something:
He could not part with his pet.

Let’s dispense with formalities.
13. It is used to indicate the cause of an action or condition:
The shadows lengthened with the

approach of the sunset.
With his remarks, everyone went calm.
With this on ground, we have to change our mind.
14. It is used to express ‘fills with or covers’:
The store is filled with books.

Cover the hole with sand.
6.1.7 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘BY’
The preposition by is used to express the following meanings:
1. It is used to express ‘through the agency and means of’:
Sinners shall be consumed by fire.

It was discovered by science.
We shall all be tried by fire.
2. It is used in expressing how things happen:
It happened by chance.
You can become great by determination.
3. It is used in expressing quantity or amount or the size of a margin:

The arrow missed the point by two inches.
Hers is better by far than yours. (i.e. much better)
He sells his wares by cartons.
4. It is used in identifying a parameter:
The room measures 15 feet by 20 feet.
5. It is used in expressing multiplication, especially in dimensions:
Multiply 6 by 7.
Six divided by two equals three.
6. It is used in expressing the end of a time period:
Breakfast should be served by 7 a.m.

Resume by 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.
I’ll have new appointment by this time tomorrow.
7. It is used in expressing ‘near to; beside’:
Look at the car by the road/church/river.

She came and stood by me.
8. It is used in expressing ‘past and beyond’:
She walked by me without greeting.

She goes by the church every morning on
her way to work.
9. It is used in expressing a means of transport or route taken:
I travel by plane/car/train.
I travel by sea/air/road always.
10. It is used in expressing ‘during’ (usually without ‘the’):
He loves travelling by night/day.

She will not be around by that time.
She works by day and sleeps by night.
11. It is used in expressing ‘according to’:
By my watch, it is 3 o’clock.
I could tell by her looks that she’s sad.
Judging by all he said, he’s innocent.
12. It is used in expressing mild oaths:
I swear by my faith.
13. It is used in indicating a part of the body or an item of clothing touched,

held, etc.:
She held him by the tie/collar/hair.
6.1.8 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘OFF’ AS A PREPOSITION
As a preposition, off is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used to express moving away and often down from or at a distance

in space or time:
She fell off the stairs.

The rain ran off the roof.
The dog fell off the roof.
2. It is used to express ‘situated or leading in a direction away from’:
The guest room is off the parlour.

She lives off the Island.
You’ll see a narrow way off the main road.
3. It is used in expressing ‘so as to be removed or separated from’:
He took 2 inches off the chair.

Can you take 1 inch off your height?
4. It is used in expressing ‘having a temporary dislike for’ (informal):
She was off alcohol for a week.

I told my husband I am off sex for now.
5. It is used in expressing ‘away from work or duty or price’:
She is off duty today.

The dealer removed 3 million off the car.
6.1.8.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘OFF’ AS AN ADJECTIVE
As an adjective, off is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used in expressing the meaning ‘unsatisfactory or inadequate’:
It is quite off to fix lectures on Sundays.
2. It is used in expressing the meaning (of food) ‘no longer fresh enough to
eat or drink’:
The meat/fish/drink has gone off.

The milk smells off.
3. It is used in expressing the meaning ‘located on the side of a vehicle that

is normally furthest from the kerb’:
Check off the car.
4. It is used in expressing the meaning ‘annoying, unfair, unfriendly’

(British informal):
He sounded rather off on the phone.
The secretary went off with me this morning.
6.1.8.2 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘OFF’ AS AN ADVERB
As an adverb, off is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used in expressing ‘away from the place, at a distance in space or

time; away:
He ran off with my money.
Winter is not far off.
The girl is off in England somewhere.
Off with you.
2. It is used in expressing ‘so as to be removed or separated’:
He’s had his beard shaved off.

Take your shoes off.
3. It is used in expressing ‘taken from the price’:
Buy the shirt with #500.00 off.
4. It is used in expressing ‘starting a journey or a race’:
He’s off to Lagos tomorrow.

See, they are off. (i.e. the race has begun).
5. It is used in expressing ‘so as to bring to an end or be discontinued’:
The planned wedding/engagement is off.

The industrial strike is called off.
6. It is used in expressing ‘not functioning or so as to cease to work’ (of

electrical appliance or power supply):
The water/gas/electricity is off.
The TV/radio/light is off.
Ensure that the power unit is off.
7. It is used in expressing ‘no longer available or being served’:
Fried rice and chicken is off today.
6.1.9 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF ‘OF’ AS A PREPOSITION
As a preposition, of is used to express the following meanings.
1. It is used in expressing the relationship between a part and a whole:
She is one of the team.
2. It is used in expressing relationship between a scale or a measure and a

value:
He bought a bar of soap.

He’s got a pint of milk.
There’s an increase of 20% in the price.
3. It is used in expressing age, time:
He is of age, ask him.

It happened on the first day of May.
4. It is used in indicating an association between two entities, typically one

of belonging:
He is of European descent.
She is a friend of mine.
This is a grammar of English.
5. It is used in expressing the relationship between a direction and a point
of reference:
Ours is a city north of Abeokuta.

He lived in the time of renaissance.
6. It is used in expressing the relationship between a general category and

something which belongs to such category:
He is a member of the volleyball team.

Of all automobiles, I prefer a four-wheel drive.
7. It is used in expressing the relationship between an abstract concept and

a noun denoting the subject or object of the underlying verb:
She is a lover of romantic music.

Fear of the dark is an important matter.
There was no hope of his being elected.
You need the support of the voters.
It’s hard to know the feelings of a rape victim
towards her attacker.
8. It is used in indicating the relationship between a verb and an indirect

object:
He gave her of what he had.

She was deprived of her goods.
She was pardoned of all her offences.
9. It is used in indicating the material constituting something:

The shirt is made of wool.
Here is a dress of red silk.
10. It is used in expressing time in relation to the following hour

(American):
The time is a quarter of nine.
11. It is used in expressing an opinion on behaviour:
This is good/kind of you.

It’s wrong of your friend to suggest such.
12. It is used in indicating a cause:
He died of hypertension.
I’m proud of being a soldier.
13. It is used when one noun describes a second one:
Where is that idiot of a man.
6.2 THE ENGLISH CONJUNCTION
Conjunction is the name of the word class used to join two or more
words, or clauses in grammar. It is used to join words, groups, and clauses in
sentences.
Bola and bala are good friends. (words)
The manager and the director are around. (groups)
I told him, but he refused. (clauses)
6.2.1 CLASSES OF CONJUNCTION
Conjunction in English can be broadly classified into two: coordinate

and subordinate.
6.2.1.1 COORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinate conjunctions are also referred to as coordinators. They

include and, but, or, and correlatives. These conjunctions are used to join
words, groups, and clauses that have equal status or weight. This means that
each of the things they join is capable of standing on its own even if it is not
joined to any other. It is perhaps joined to another in other to achieve economy
of words (i.e. not using too many words or avoidance of repetition).
I. And: And is called additive coordinator. It is used to add one

thing to another.
Emeka and I will do the job.
I told him, and he complied.
The additive coordinator can be used to express result, sequence,

contrast, comment, and condition.
He drove into the swollen river, and the vehicle was carried off
by the raging current. (result)
The man slumped, and he died few minutes later.(sequence)
She opened the garage door, and the man packed the car.
(sequence)
Lola is moody, and Ben is cheerful. (contrast)
Police invaded the house, and that was the
First of a series of attempt in defiance of a court order.
(comment)
Do your work well, and you’ll get what you deserve. (condition)
II. But: The general function of but is contrastive. But is therefore

referred to as contrastive coordinator.
I told him, but he refused.

Kate is young, but she’s wise.
III. Or: The coordinator or is used to denote alternatives. Therefore, it

is referred to as alternate coordinator.
Which do you want: cake or book?

Apart from this general function, or can also be used to
restate the contents of a preceding clause or its consequence.
The pilgrims saw the pyramid or they thought they did.
(restatement)
Turn off the motor after two minutes, or it will be damaged
beyond repair.
(consequence)
CORRELATIVE COORDINATORS
Correlative coordinators are coordinators that appear in pairs. They

correspond to each other and are, most times, used together. They include
both…and, either…or, neither…nor, etc.
I. Both…and: The correlative coordinator both…and performs

additive function.
My wife both washes my clothes and irons them.
II. Either…or: This correlative coordinator expresses contrast

between two alternatives. It is an alternate correlative coordinator.
Either stay with us or go back home.
III. Neither…nor: This correlative coordinator is used to coordinate

clauses with negative contents.
He was neither here nor there.

You neither progress nor retrogress.
6.2.1.2 SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS
Subordinate conjunctions are also called subordinators. They are used to

join clauses that do not belong to same grammatical category. This suggests
that they are used to create complex sentences (treated more in chapters 8 and
10). There are simple subordinators and complex subordinators, and
correlative subordinators.
SIMPLE SUBORDINATORS
Simple subordinators are made up of single words. Examples include as,
after, although, because, before, for, if, like, once, since, till, unless, until,
where, when, whenever, whereas, and whilst.
Do it as you have been told.

Put out the light after all the doors have been locked.
Although you passed the exam, you cannot be promoted.
I won’t give you because you are yet to pay me.
Look before you leap.
Once it is ready, call me.
I don’t need to apologise since I am not at fault.
Be patient till I return.
He won’t do it unless you tell him.
It won’t be okay until we are through.
I will let you know when she comes back.
Say your prayers whenever you are in distress.
Whereas we ordered books, we were supplied tissue
papers.
She phoned to announce our arrival whilst we were waiting
still for bus.
COMPOUND SUBORDINATORS
Compound subordinators are subordinators made up of more than one

word. This is why they are referred to with the word compound. They are
formed with that as the last word. Examples include so that, in order that,
such that, now that, and considering that, etc.
Tune off the radio so that I can sleep.

I agreed in other that there may be peace.
Now that you are a graduate, you must start taking
care of your younger ones.
I will give you considering that you are
becoming more dependable.
More examples of compound subordinators include provided that, given that,

granted that.
CORRELATIVE SUBORDINATORS
Like correlative coordinators, correlative subordinators also appear in

pairs. Examples include if… then, although…yet, though…nevertheless, as…
so, so…that, etc.
If he has five cars, then he must be wealthy.

Although he had been cheated severally,
yet he remains gullible.
Though he did well overall, he was nevertheless
told to repeat the failed practical.
As he was making his absurd plans, so were we
strategising to discovering his secrets.
So intense was the heat in Kano that white men turned
black within few years of residence.
6.3 CONCLUSION
We have seen the English prepositions as well as conjunctions and

conjunction. In the next chapter, we shall study the group/phrase.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
THE ENGLISH GROUP & PHRASE
7.1 THE GROUP & PHRASE
Following the explanation of M A K Halliday, a group is in some

respects, equivalent to a word complex – that is, a combination of words built
up on the basis of a particular logical relation. This is why it is called group
(that is, ‘group of words’). This is also the reason why in western grammatical
tradition, it was not recognized as a distinct structural unit. Instead, simple
sentences are analysed directly into words. Such an analysis is still feasible
provided we confine our attention to the sort of idealized isolated sentences
that grammarians have usually dealt with, such as:
Taiwo jumps.
Bala kicks the ball.
Even there, the ‘words-in-sentences’ model ignores several important aspects

of the meanings involved, and in the analysis of real-life discourse, it leads to
impossible complexity. Describing a sentence as a construction of words is
like describing a house as a construction of bricks, without recognizing the
walls and rooms as intermediate structural units.
A phrase is different from a group in that a group is an expansion of a
word, a phrase is a contraction of a clause. Starting from the opposite ends, the
two achieve roughly the same status on the rank scale, as units that lie
somewhere between the rank of a clause and that of a word.
More conveniently, a group can be explained as a group of words that
has no verb. A group is created when we bring words together (without the
inclusion of a verb
among the words brought together). A group is expected to have some meaning
since words are not just combined without having certain meaning. A group
can be made up of one or more words. There are different types of group.
Since the group constitutes the focus of this chapter, more will be said under
subsequent headings.
7.2 CLASSES OF GROUP
There are five classes of group. We have said before that the group is
formed or created using words. A group is named according to the class of the
word that stands most significantly in it. For instance, if the most significant
word in a group is an adjective, such a group would be named adjectival group
(ADJG).
Also, if its most significant word is an adverb, the group would be
named adverbial group (ADVG). If it is a preposition, it would be named
prepositional group (PRG). But if the word is a noun or a pronoun, it would be
named nominal group (NMG). If the word is a verb, it would be called a
verbal group (VBG). Conjunctions do not occur as significant in the group.
Now, let’s begin to look at them one after the other.
7.2.1 THE NOMINAL GROUP (NMG)
Nominal group is the name of the group that has a noun or a pronoun as
its most significant word. As previously said, words come together to form the
group and that a group can be made up of just one word or more. This also
implies that the word functions within the structural make up of the group. A
group can be made up of just one word, yet such a group would still be
referred to as group and not a word. See the following nominal groups (all the
parts printed in bold are nominal groups):
The boy… as inThe boy is obedient.

I… as inI love him.
The car… as inThe car is too old.
The wicked woman…as in The wicked woman beat the boy.
The tall black rough looking man is back.
The nominal group functions as subject, complement and as adjunct in the

clause. In the above expressions, it functions as subject.
The subject, for convenience, is the part of the clause that performs the
action in the clause or the part about which something is said (as the case may
be). In the above expressions for instance, the boy in the first expression is not
performing any action; it is the part about which something is said. In the
second expression, I performs the action of loving. The same can also be seen
in the subsequent expressions where the car is the part about which something
is said, the wicked woman performs an action, and the tall, black, rough
looking man is the part about which something is said.
The complement is the part of an expression that receives the action
performed by the subject, or the part that reveals what is being said about the
subject (as the case may be). Let us use the expressions above:
The boy is a good boy.

I love him.
The car is an old model.
The wicked woman beat the boy.
The expressions a good boy, him, an old model, and the boy are nominal
groups functioning as complement. The expression a good boy reveals
something about the subject (i.e. character); him, receives the action of
‘loving’, an old model reveals the age of the subject, and the boy receives the
action performed by the subject.
The adjunct is the part of an expression that gives additional
information. Usually, the adjunct can be removed from an expression, yet the
expression will still make sense. This is because it only gives additional
information. Adjuncts are used in the following expressions:
You look good tonight.

He behaved well yesterday.
He did it this evening.
The nominal groups: tonight, yesterday, and this evening, as used above
function as adjuncts. You can remove them and the expressions will still make
sense.
You look good.

He behaved well.
He did it.
Take note that it is the role played by a nominal group that tells us whether it
functions as subject, complement or as adjunct.
7.2.2 THE VERBAL GROUP (VBG)
The verbal group is a group that is made up of verbs. It performs the

function of predicator in an expression. The predicator is the part of an
expression that is made up of verbs. The verbal group is quite easy to identify
as long as one knows how to identify verbs. The verbal group can also be
made up of only one word (verb) since it is a group. The fact that it is made up
of one word does not mean it is a word. This is the principle in grammar, not
only in English, but also in all human languages. See the following:
The boy is obedient.

I will see you tomorrow.
It has been done.
It was said to have been done.
It must have been seen to have been done.
All the parts printed in bold in the above expressions are verbal groups,
each functioning as predicator. Remember that the term verbal group is a
grammatical name while predicator is its (grammatical) function. Note that the
verb is the most important word in an expression. One verb can be used as
sentence. This is what we use in commands:
Go.
Stop.
Come.
7.2.3 THE ADJECTIVAL GROUP (ADJG)
If the most significant word in a group is an adjective, then that group is

an adjectival group. It functions as complement in an expression. Let me
remind you here that the complement is the part of an expression that reveals
something about the subject or the part that receives the action performed by
the subject. It is easy to identify the adjectival group. It is usually made up one
adjective, and it usually comes immediately after the verb in the expression.
See it in the following:
The boy is obedient.
You look good.
This is nice.
The adjectival group that contains more than one word is usually made up of
intensifiers such as very, so or down toners such as less, etc., or enough. See
the following:
She is very beautiful.

He is so strong.
She was less serious.
This is good enough.
This is a lot better.
The cloth was more expensive than expected.
My ideas are more useful than yours.
All the bold parts in the above expressions are adjectival groups, each
functioning as complement. They tell us more about the subject.
7.2.4 THE ADVERBIAL GROUP(ADVG)
The group that has an adverb as its most prominent word is referred to as
adverbial group. The adverbial group functions as adjunct in the expression in
which it is used. The adjunct, already said, is the part of an expression that
gives additional information. If this information is removed, the expression
will still make sense. Adverbial group is used in the following expressions:
The man spoke angrily.

Academically, she is very sound.
She spoke less convincingly.
All the parts printed in bold in the above expressions are adverbial groups,
each functioning as adjunct.
7.2.5 THE PREPOSITIONAL GROUP & PHRASE (PRG & PRP)

Prepositional group is the group that has a preposition as its most
prominent word. It functions as adjunct as well. Prepositions are functionally
related to verbs. But they form groups by adding modification, in the same way
as conjunctions. Examples include: right behind, not without, way off, etc.
However, there are complex forms such as: in front of, for the sake of,
immediately in front of, etc. It is important to reiterate here that the
prepositional group is a modifier-head structure expanded from and
functionally equivalent to a preposition. They can be reduced to a single
element.
A prepositional phrase, on the other hand, is not an expansion of
anything but a clause-like structure in which the predicator function is
performed by a preposition and not a verb. The prepositional phrase also
functions as adjunct in the clause structure. A prepositional phrase consists of a
preposition plus a nominal group. They have no logical structure as head and
modifier and cannot be reduced to a single element. In this respect, they are
clause-like rather than group-like.
It is very easy to identify the prepositional phrase. This is because
prepositional phrase always begins with a preposition. See it used in the
following:
I will see you in the morning.

Keep the food stuff in the store.
Put the plate on the table.
The job was done by James.
I stood beside him.
All the parts printed in bold in the above expressions are prepositional groups,
each functioning as adjunct.
7.3 CONCLUSION
We have been able to discuss the English group in some detail. We look
at the English clause in the next chapter.
CHAPTER EIGHT:
THE ENGLISH CLAUSE
8.1 THE CLAUSE
The clause is defined as a group of words that has verb and makes
sense. As mentioned before, clause is created by combining groups, which
must include verbal group. It can be deduced from this fact that if the clause if
formed by combining groups and each of the groups performs specific function,
then it is possible for the clause to be broken down into different functional
parts. These parts would include the various functions performed by individual
groups: subject, predicator, complement, and adjunct (abbreviated to SPCA).
This is because these are the functions being performed by the groups that
come together to form the clause.
It should also be noted that it is possible for a clause to be made up of
just one group, just as it is possible for the group to be made up of just one
word, and a word to be made up of just one morpheme. This is one of the
exceptional behaviours of language. This exceptional behaviour does not affect
the definition of word, group, nor that of clause.
As already said, the English clause has five parts due to the functions
performed by the groups that come together to form it. These parts are subject,
predicator, complement, and adjunct (i.e. SPCA). It is possible for the clause
to be made up of just one group. This means that a clause can be made up of
only one of these four parts. Let’s consider more details.
8.1.1 THE SUBJECT
The subject of the clause is the part that performs an action or the part
about
which something is said. It is not always that an action must be performed in an
utterance (this has been seen above under nominal group). A subject may
perform an action or it may not. The subject may be a simple, compound or
complex subject. a subject is simple if the nominal group that forms it contains
only one noun/pronoun. It is compound if the nominal group contains more than
one noun/pronoun joined by coordinate conjunction. It is complex if the
nominal group contains a (rank shifted) clause (usually an adjectival clause).
The parts printed in bold in the following expressions are the subjects:
We saw him yesterday. (simple subject)

You and I will do it. (compound subject)
The driver of the bus and the conductor were arrested.
(compound subject)
The man who said it has been punished. (complex subject)
8.1.2 THE PREDICATOR
The predicator is the part of the clause that contains the verb. It contains
verbal group. Note that the term ‘predicate’ is not the same with predicator.
The parts printed in bold in the following expressions are the predicators:
I will give his money to you.

She has gone.
He is here.
They are alright.
8.1.3 THE COMPLEMENT
Complement is the part of the clause that receives the action performed
by the subject or the part that contains what is being said about the subject.
There can be more than one complement in a clause. There cannot be more than
one subject or more than one predicator in a clause. The complement position
can be occupied by both nominal group and adjectival group. As long as the
group functions as the complement, it is the complement. Be careful not to spell
complement as compliment. The parts printed in bold in the following
expressions are complements:
We have seen him. (NMG functioning as complement)

Here is the thief. (NMG functioning as complement)
Tunde saw the boy (NMG functioning as complement)
They gave everyone gift.(two NMG’s used as complement)
C1 C2
The boy is good. (ADJG functioning as complement)
The lady is so beautiful. (ADJG functioning as complement)
8.1.4 THE ADJUNCT
Adjunct is the part of the clause that provides additional information.

Adjunct position is occupied by adverbial group, prepositional group, and
nominal group in some cases. There can be more than one adjunct in a clause,
and adjunct can be placed anywhere in a clause unlike the other parts that have
usual positions. This special feature of the adjunct is referred to as mobility of
adjunct. The parts printed in bold in the following expressions are the
adjuncts:
She is in the kitchen. (PRP functioning as adjunct)

It is in my room on the table.
(in my room is one adjunct and on the table is (A1 A2 another one)
I will speak with him this evening. (with him is adjunct (PRP) and
this evening is another one (NMG))
He drives carelessly. (ADVG functioning as adjunct)
She speaks rudely. (ADVG functioning as adjunct)
You look better today. (NMG functioning as adjunct)
This evening, I’ll speak with him.(NMG functioning as adjunct)
8.1.5 INVERSION
Inversion is another notable process in grammar. It is similar to the
mobility of adjunct, though different from it. It does not just involve the
movement of one part of the clause from place to place. Rather, it involves a
rearrangement of the parts of the clause according to the taste of the person
creating the clause or due to grammatical necessities. The usual arrangement
for the clause parts is SPCA where S stands for subject, P for predicator, C for
complement, and A for adjunct.
I saw him in the kitchen.

S P C A
In inversion, this structural arrangement is distorted.
You are a boy.

S P C
Are you a boy?
P S C (SPC becomes PSC)
You will do it well.

S P C A
Will you do it well?

P- S -P C A
(SPCA becomes P-S-PCA)
Note that it is only clause that has its parts named SPCA. Sentence has
different structural parts. Sentence is created by bringing clauses together.
There is no need to say much about the sentence here as it is well explained in
the next chapter.
8.2 CLASSES OF CLAUSE
Clause can be divided into classes using two criteria: form and function.
8.2.1 CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FORM
Form refers to the structural make-up of the clause. Under form, clause
is studied according to the types and number of the group it contains, and
according to the strength of such a clause. Here, clause is classified using three
systems: dependency, finiteness, and major.
8.2.1.1 DEPENDENCY
Under this, clause is divided into two: dependent (also called

subordinate/beta), and independent (also called main/alpha). As we continue,
we will be making use of subordinate in place of dependent/beta, and main in
place of independent/alpha. A main clause is a clause that can stand on its own
and makes sense. It makes sense on
its own.
I am here.
They will understand.
It is okay.
That is all.
The expressions above are created using one main clause respectively.
Whenever a main clause stands alone and a full stop comes after it (just as
those above), it will no longer be referred to as a clause. It will be referred to
as a simple sentence. A subordinate clause, on the other hand, is a clause that
cannot stand on its own. Though it makes sense, the sense will demand that
more information should be added. This ‘more information’ is then supplied
using a main clause. Examples of subordinate clauses include the following:
When I get home….

Unless I see him….
As I looked into the room….
Because it has been done….
The clauses above need more information. A listener will expect more
information from anybody that utters a subordinate clause. A subordinate
clause often begins with subordinate conjunction. As you can see, none of the
clauses above can stand alone. They will need to be helped using main clauses
before they can stand on their own.
When I get home, I will give him food.
Unless I see him, I won’t supply any material.
As I looked into the room, I saw him stealing meat from the pot.
Because it has been done, we don’t need to bother again.
I will give him food when I get home.
I won’t supply any material unless I see him.
I saw him stealing meat from the pot as I looked into the room.
We don’t need to bother again because it has been done.
It can also be seen above that the subordinate clause can come before
the main clause. A comma is used to separate the subordinate clause from the
main clause, but no comma is used if the main clause comes first.
8.2.1.1.1 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
Subordinate clauses can be grouped into three: nominal, adjectival, and

adverbial. These are explained one after the other below.
8.2.1.1.1.1 NOMINAL CLAUSE
Nominal clause is a subordinate clause that functions exactly as nominal

group in an expression. This means that it functions as subject, complement and
as adjunct in an expression. Some examples are given below:
Why he did that baffles all of us. (subject)

That his son steals is an insult I will never accept.
(subject and complement)
They offered whoever they met a bottle of coke.
(complement)
That you passed is not a new thing. (subject)
Call the police immediately was all I did. (subject and adjunct)
It is an abomination that his son steals. (adjunct)
Nominal clause often begins words such as that, what, who, whoever, whose,
which and how. Nominal clause also qualifies a preposition in a prepositional
phrase:
There is no justification for what you have done.
I cannot see any sense in what you just did.
Nominal clause also functions as an apposition. An apposition refers to a

relationship between two or more expressions (i.e. two or more words,
groups, or clauses) in which these expressions are grammatically parallel or
have same referents. This means that they refer to the same person, thing or
idea. See the following:
The fact that he fights is not enough to excommunicate him.
The nominal clause that he fights is what is also referred to by the expression
the fact which comes before it. Therefore, that he steals is an appositive to
the fact. They both function as subject.
8.2.1.1.1.2 ADJECTIVAL CLAUSE
Adjectival clause functions as qualifier in a nominal group. It qualifies

the noun/pronoun in a nominal group. Don’t let this amaze you. Yes! It is a
clause, yet it functions within a group. Human language is very dynamic just as
human beings themselves are dynamic. It behaves exactly as an adjective, not
even like an adjectival group. It usually begins with relative pronoun (i.e.
Who, whose, which, and that). An adjectival clause that begins with a relative
pronoun is also known as relative clause. Examples are used below.
The boy who won the contest is my friend. (It qualifies boy)
This is the girl whose bag was stolen. (It qualifies girl)
The car you bought is nice. (It qualifies car)
This is the house destroyed by fire. (It qualifies house)
The adjectival clause always comes immediately after a noun. It does not
modify a noun, it qualifies a noun. Had it been it comes before a noun, it would
be said that it modifies the noun. In this case, it comes after it, therefore it
qualifies it.
8.2.1.1.1.3 ADVERBIAL CLAUSE

Adverbial clause functions exactly as adverbial group. This means that
it functions as adjunct. It provides information that supplies answer to how
(manner), when (time), where (place), why (reason), etc. An action is/was
carried out. It also provides information about the degree or extent of
something and under what condition a given action is/was carried out. There
are several types of adverbial clause: manner, time, reason, purpose, result,
consequence, condition, and of concession. Adverbial clauses are introduced
by subordinate conjunctions discussed in chapter six above.
I Adverbial clause of manner: This adverbial clause answers the question
how? It tells the manner in which an event, action or process took place. See
the following examples:
The man speaks as if he knew all things.

She told the story as she was told.
II.Adverbial clause of time: This adverbial clause answers the question

when? It reveals the period of time during which an event, action or a
process took or will take
place. It is introduced by words such as after, before, when, until, etc.
Until I see him, I won’t do it.

I will build my own house before this year ends.
I saw him when I went there.
III. Adverbial clause of place: This is used to show location. It usually

begins with where and wherever.
This is the place where I was born.

He searched for a wife wherever he could.
IV. Adverbial clause of reason: This answers the question why? It is

usually introduced by because, since, etc.
He took it because it belonged to him.

Since you said you didn’t want, I gave it to another person.
V. Adverbial clause of purpose: This clause answers the question for
what purpose? It is usually introduced by in other that, so that, that, etc.
We paid 80% of the price in advance

so that you might not disappoint us.
She decided to compromise with the
general manager in other that she might get the job.
VI. Adverbial clause of result/consequence: This answers the

question with what result? It is introduced by that, so that, such that, etc.
The examination was difficult such that only

10% of the candidates passed.
My father’s house was built on a rock so
that no storm would pull it down.
VII. Adverbial clause of condition: This answers the question under

what condition? It is introduced by if, unless, on the condition that.
If you work hard, you are likely to make it.

Unless you read well, you won’t pass the examination!
VIII. Adverbial clause of concession: This concedes the statement

made in another clause. This type of adverbial clause is usually
introduced by though, even if, however, whatever, whichever, etc.
Though you came late, you will do your work.

Whatever happens, give thanks.
However you see it, i will marry him.
8.2.1.2FINITENESS
Like dependency, there are two types of clauses to be studied under

finiteness. These are finite clauses and non-finite clauses. This classification is
based on the type of verb that occupies the predicator position in the clause
under study.
A finite clause is a clause that has finite verb (i.e. a verb that indicates
the completeness of action or process). In English, finite verbs are singular
verbs, plural verbs, and verbs in past form (these are studied in chapter four of
this book).a finite clause is necessarily a main clause. A finite verb changes its
form within the clause in response to any grammatical changes in number (i.e.
singular or plural), person (i.e. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd), and tense (present, past, and
future). The following are examples of finite clauses:
He has gone.
They have gone.
He goes to school.
They go to school.
A non-finite clause is a clause that has non-finite verb. A non-finite verb

does not indicate completeness of the action, or process under focus.
Examples of non-finite verbs are verbs in the progressive/continuous form,
verbs in past participle form, and to-infinitive (i.e. verbs that are preceded
with to e.g. to sing, to eat, to hear, etc.). Non-finite clauses are also
subordinate clauses. Non-finite clauses belong to different categorisation
anyway. They cannot be considered as a type of subordinate clause. A non-
finite verb remains unchanging regardless of any grammatical changes in
number, person, or tense.
TO-INFINITIVE
The boys were advised to read well.

The boy was advised to read well.
The boy is advised to read well.
The boy is being advised to read well.
The boys are being advised to read well.
PROGRESSIVE (CONTINUOUS)
I got what I wanted going through the book.

We got what we wanted going through the book.
You will get what you want going through the book.
They were satisfied going through the book.
BARE INFINITIVE (TO INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO)
All we did was call the man immediately.

Rather than he does it, I prefer a mad man.
Kill the rat immediately was all I did.
Phone the doctor at once was the last option.
PAST PARTICIPLE
The cup broken yesterday was mine.

The book stolen this morning has been found.
He went away forgiven of his sins.
Seeing the job completed, he sat back smiling.(continuous form)
8.2.1.3 MAJOR
Under this category, clauses are classified according to whether they are
major or minor clauses. Here, they are grouped according to whether they have
the predicator or not. Major clauses are clauses that have predicator (i.e.
having the verbal group). In effect, all the types of clauses discussed so far are
major clauses (i.e. subordinate,
main, finite and non-finite clauses).
The idea of a clause having the predicator position, or not, may seem to
contradict our definition of the clause as a group of words that has verb and
makes sense. But there is no contradiction as such. It simply happens that there
are almost always exceptions to every grammatical rule when confronted with
natural language use. This is because language is arbitrary and creative.
Language itself is complex just as the humans who use them are complex.
It is also held in grammar that there can be no clause without the
presence of the predicator. Against this norm is the fact that minor clauses do
exist in English. Minor clauses are clauses that do not have the predicator. This
simply means that they are clauses that do not have verb. What actually
happens is that their verbs have been removed in order to achieve brevity and
economy of words. The person to whom they are uttered understands without
any confusion. Below are some examples:
Simply unbelievable!
Yours sincerely. (used to end a letter)
Yours faithfully. (used to end a letter)
Certainly.
Sure.
Any ideas?
The full realisations of these clauses are:
This is simply unbelievable!

I am yours sincerely.
I am yours faithfully.
Certainly I will.
I am sure.
Do you have any ideas?
8.2.2 CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FUNCTION

Clauses are also classified according to the function they perform. These
functions include that of commanding (called imperative), giving of statements
(called affirmative), and requesting of information (called interrogative).
There are two ways of requesting for information. The person requesting for
the information may simply wish to confirm how true a piece of information is.
This kind of request in called polar
interrogative. This kind of polar interrogative requires yes/no as the supposed
answer. The person making the request, on the other hand, may simply request
for fresh information. This kind of request does not require yes/no answer. It is
therefore referred to as non-polar interrogative. We will consider each of these
functions one after the other.
I. Imperative clause: An imperative clause is a clause that gives command.
This clause does not usually have subject. Below are some examples:
Go away!
Stop there!
Open the door!
Get out!
II. Affirmative clause: Affirmative clauses are used in stating facts,

experiences, feelings, ideas, etc.
I came yesterday.
I will go tomorrow.
He has done it.
Tayo partook in the tournament.
I love my wife a lot.
I hate him.
III. Interrogative clause: As it has been said, there are two types of
interrogative clause: polar and non-polar. Polar interrogative clauses are
clauses used to ask for confirmation or refutation of given information.. They
can therefore be answered with yes/no response.
Do you know him?

Have you found your money?
Did you see him?
Polar interrogatives often cause some measure of difficulty in usage for certain
class of second language users of English. This is because English
distinguishes between positive and negative polarities. See the
exemplifications below:
POLAR INTERROGATIVE ANSWER

Positive Negative
He doesn’t eat. Does he? Yes, he does eat. No, he does not.
Does he eat? Yes, he does eat. No, he does not.
Did he do it? Yes, he did. No, he didn’t.
What should be noted is that if your answer is positive, you simply say
yes, no matter how the question is put. If your answer is negative, you should
just say no, notwithstanding how the question is put. Non-polar interrogatives
are used to request/seek information that is not yet available to the questioner.
They usually begin with interrogative pronouns: who, what, which, why, when,
and where. How also belongs in this category.
What is your name?

Where did you go?
Who is that?
Why did you do it?
When did you leave?
How did you go about it?
8.3 CONCLUSION
We have been able to study the English clause in this chapter. The next
chapter features a study of the English clause.
CHAPTER NINE:
CONCORD/AGREEMENT, & SPELLING
9.1 CONCORD (AGREEMENT)
The word ‘concord’ means agreement or harmony. In grammar, it denotes

agreement between words in gender, number, case and or person. It can be
further explained as the relationship between two grammatical elements (i.e.
Words, groups, clauses) or two parts of a sentence such that if one of them has
a particular feature (e.g. Plurality), the other has to contain that feature as well.
For example, if the subject has the feature plurality, then the verb has to be
plural as well. Also, if the subject is singular, then the verb has to be singular
as well. If there is no agreement of this kind in a sentence, such a sentence
would be said to be ungrammatical. There are three types of concord in
English: grammatical concord, notional concord, and concord of proximity.
9.1.1 GRAMMATICAL CONCORD
The rule of grammatical concord states that the verb agrees in number
with the subject of the clause. This is expounded below:
I. A singular subject requires a singular verb.
The man is nice.

Rachel is a good wife.
II. A plural subject requires a plural verb.
The men are nice.

The ladies are caring.
III. A clause occupying the subject position is counted singular,

therefore a singular verb is required.
What I am doing with my career is none of your business.

Allowing you to do all you wanted with me the very night
you proposed to me without any degree of reluctance is not
enough reason for you to say that I am a cheap girl.
IV. Names of diseases, subjects in school, sports, which end with -s

are counted as singular. Therefore, they take singular verbs.
Measles is a deadly disease.

Mathematics is an interesting subject.
Gymnastics makes one physically fit.
9.1.2 NOTIONAL CONCORD
This concord advocates agreement of the verb with the subject according
to the idea of number rather than the actual presence of a grammatical marker
for that subject. This rule applies to collective nouns since their being singular
or plural depends on the context of usage. They have no plural marker. Some
are used in various contexts below.
Family is the unit of society. (singular)

The audience was enormous. (singular)
The government consists of you and me. (singular)
The public has been informed. (singular)
The committee is doing well. (singular)
Your family are here to see you. (plural)
The committee agree to work out a way. (plural)
Evidently, the audience are tired of the show. (plural)
The government of West African states are doing well these days.
(plural)
9.1.3 CONCORD OF PROXIMITY
Proximity means nearness. The rule of this concord states that the verb
agrees in number with the noun closest to it. See the following:
Nobody, not even my friends, were around.

Neither my friends nor my father was around.
Neither my father nor my friends were around.
9.1.4 MORE GUIDELINES ON CONCORD
1. A pronoun that refers back to a singular nominal group should be in

singular form.
The girl loves her mother.
Not
*the girl loves their mother*
II A pronoun that refers back to a plural nominal group should be in

plural form.
The girls love their mother.
III. Nominal clauses that have plural referents take plural verbs.
What used to be modern houses are now a pile of rubbles.
IV. Plural words and phrases used as titles, names, quotations, etc.,
count as singular and therefore take singular verbs.
Things Fall Apart is my favourite novel.

My name is chief, doctor, engineer, Akinseye Ismail.
V. A singular verb is used with coordinated elements which

represents a single entity.
Rice and beans is my best meal.

Bread and butter makes me sick.
VI. A singular verb is used when coordinated nominal groups refer to

the same thing.
Here lies a captain and an impartial referee.

His lawyer and former college friend,
James, was with him before he died.
VII. When two nominal groups are joined by or or by either …or, the
general rule is that the number of the verb is determined by the number of
the last nominal group.
Either the students or the teacher does not know the answer.
Either the teacher or the students do not know the answer.
VIII. Whenever any of with, as well as, rather than, more than, as much as is
used to coordinate two subjects, the first noun (i.e. first subject) is used to
determine whether the verb should be singular or plural.
The commissioner as much as/rather than/more than/

as well as his subordinates is responsible for the shortage.
IX. However, if not…but or not only…but is used to coordinate two subjects,

the second subject is used to determine whether the verb will be singular or
plural.
Not only him, but all of us were applauded.

Not only them, but bola was also applauded.
X. Tools and articles of clothing consisting of two equal parts which are joined
are called summation plurals. Each of these nouns takes plural verb and plural
pronoun. Examples of summation plurals include: pliers, scissors, shears,
spectacles, glasses, tongs, tweezers, binoculars, clippers, forceps, gallows,
goggles, pincers, braces, breeches, briefs, flannels, jeans, knickers, trousers,
leggings, pants, pajamas, shorts, slacks, suspenders, tight, shoes, etc. To count
these nouns, we use a pair of…:
These trousers are too tight for me.

Your glasses look expensive; where did you buy them.
You can, however, say a trouser leg, a suspender belt, etc.
9.2 SPELLING
Spelling is a very important part of language learning. A learner of any

language will not do well if he is unable to spell words accurately in the
language in question. A study of the grammar of any language should be
accompanied with a study of the spellings (as well as well pronunciation) of
the words contained in such a language.
In English language, a number of words often pose some measure of
difficulties to second language users in the area of spelling. A look into these
areas of difficulties is taken below. As I have always said, no detail is too
minute to be paid good attention.
9.2.3 DIFFERENT SPELLING, RELATED MEANING,

DIFFERENT WORD
CLASSES
NOUN VERB
annexe annex
envelope envelop
license license
advice advise
practice practise
thief thieve
proof prove
breath breathe
cloth clothe
pronouns pronounce
9.2.4 FREQUENTLY MISSPELLED WORDS
WORD AREA OF ATTENTION

Accommodation ----- cc, mm
Acquaint, acquire ----- acq
Ageing ----- preferred to aging
Aggressive ----- gg, ss
Commit ----- mm
Appalling ----- pp, ll
Artefact ----- arte preferred to art arti
Attach ----- tt, ch not tich
Besiege ----- i before e
Receive ----- e before i
Relief ----- i before e
Biased ----- preferred to biassed
Commemorate ----- mm, m
Committee ----- mm, tt,ee.
Government ----- vern
Etiquette ----- uette
Procrastinate ----- cras
Expatiate ----- not pan
Consensus ----- not cen
Desperate ----- not par
Disappear ----- not ss or p
Disappoint ----- pp
Ecstasy ---- sy not cy
Eight ----- not gth
Fulfill ----- not il
Guarantee ----- not tt
Manouevre ----- oeuvre
Medieval ----- iev
Mediterranean ----- rr
Embarrass ----- rr , ss
Enthral ----- l
Gauge ----- au not ua
Harass ----- r, ss
Hygienic ----- i before e
Install ----- ll
Instalment ----- not ll (AmE II)
Memento ----- not mom
Millennium ----- ll,nn
Miscellaneous ----- ll , eous
Millionaire ----- ll , n
Misspell ----- ss
Necessary ----- ss
Beginning ----- nning
Planning ----- nning
College ----- ll, g not dge
Knowledge ----- dge
Occurrence ----- cc, rr
Occasion ----- cc, s
Mission ----- ss
Vision ----- s
9.2.3 SOME RULES ON SPELLING
Rule 1: I before E except after C – This rule, designed to help us remember

how to spell words such as receive and chief, seems so promising in its
simplicity at first:
achieve, believe, bier, brief, hygiene, grief, thief, friend,

grieve, chief, fiend, patience, pierce, priest , ceiling,
conceive, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive, deceit, conceit.
But then things get complicated: it doesn't work with words pronounced ‘ay’ as
in neighbour, freight, beige, sleigh, weight, vein, and weigh and there are
many exceptions to the rule:
either, neither, feint, foreign, forfeit, height,

leisure, weird, seize, and seizure.
Still, the rule is relatively simple and worth remembering.

Rule 2: Dropping Final E – When adding an ending to a word that ends with a
silent e, drop the final e if the ending begins with a vowel: advancing,
surprising
However, if the ending begins with a consonant, keep the final e:
advancement
likeness
(However, if the silent e is preceded by another vowel, drop the e when

adding any ending: argument, argued, truly.) Exceptions: to avoid confusion
and mispronunciation, the final e is kept in words such as mileage and words
where the
final e is preceded by a soft g or c: changeable, courageous, manageable,
management, noticeable. (The word management, for example, without that e
after the g, would be pronounced with a hard g sound.)
Rule 3: Dropping Final Y – When adding an ending to a word that ends with y,
change the y to i when it is preceded by a consonant.
supply becomes supplies

worry becomes worried
merry becomes merrier
This does not apply to the ending -ing, however.
crying
studying
Nor does it apply when the final y is preceded by a vowel.

obeyed
saying
Rule 4: Doubling Final Consonants – When adding an ending to a word that

ends in a consonant, we double that consonant in many situations. First, we
have to determine the number of syllables in the word. Double the final
consonant before adding an ending that begins with a vowel when the last
syllable of the word is accented and that syllable ends in a single vowel
followed by a single consonant.
Submit is accented on the last syllable and the final consonant is
preceded by a vowel, so we double the t before adding, for instance, an -ing
or -ed: submitting, submitted.
Flap contains only one syllable which means that it is always accented.
Again, the last consonant is preceded by a vowel, so we double it before
adding, for instance, an -ing or -ed: flapping, flapped. This rule does not
apply to verbs that end with -x, -w, -v, and -y, consonants that cannot be
doubled (such as ‘box’ [boxing] and ‘snow’ [snowing]).
Open contains two syllables and the last syllable is preceded by a single
vowel, but the accent falls on the first syllable, not the last syllable, so we
don't double the n before adding an ending: opening, opened.
Refer contains two syllables and the accent falls on the last syllable and
a single vowel precedes the final consonant, so we will double the r before
adding an ending, as in referring, referral. The same would apply to begin, as
in beginner, beginning.
Relent contains two syllables, but the final consonant is preceded by
another consonant, not a vowel, so we do not double the t before adding an
ending: relented, relenting.
Deal looks like flap (above), but the syllable ends in a consonant
preceded not by a single vowel, but by two vowels, so we do not double the
final l as in dealer and dealing. The same would apply, then, to despair:
despairing, despaired.
Rule 5: Adding Prefixes – Generally, adding a prefix to a word does not
change its spelling. For some reason, the word misspelling is one of the most
often misspelled words in English.
Improving your spelling skills is largely a matter of personal

commitment: looking up a word you are not sure of, keeping the dictionary at
hand, keeping a list of words you know you have trouble with.
9.3 CONCLUSION
We have explored concord in English as well as certain difficult areas of

spelling and confusing words. The next chapter features the English sentence
and punctuation.
CHAPTER TEN:
THE ENGLISH SENTENCE & PUNCTUATION
10.1 THE SENTENCE
Sentence, in grammar, is used to refer to a group of words that has verb

and makes complete sense. This definition is close to that of clause which is a
group of words that has verb and makes sense. The only difference between the
definitions is that one makes complete sense while the other just makes sense.
Sentence is said to make complete sense while clause is said to make sense.
Sentence can be classified into three (from the point of view of form):
simple, compound, and complex.
10.1.1 THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
Simple sentence is a sentence that is made up of just one main clause. If

a main clause (explained in chapter eight), stands alone and a full stop is
placed after it, it will no longer be referred to as a main clause, but as a simple
sentence. The idea of main clause comes to bear only when more than one
clause is joined and we want to identify each of them for the purpose of
analysis. We also mention it when we want to identify the type of clause with
which we create the simple sentence.
In a nutshell, a simple sentence is a sentence that is made up of one main
clause. Below are examples of simple sentences:
I am going home.
Bayo sings well.
Jane and jerry are very close friends.
Mum and dad are planning to go on another honey moon.
They will attend to you tomorrow.
This is good for you.
10.1.2 THE COMPOUND SENTENCE
Compound sentence is a sentence that is made up of more than one main

clause. The number of main clauses that can come together to form a compound
sentence is unspecified. This is left to the discretion of the language user.
However, it is not expected that a sentence be too long. Making use of too long
sentences is often an indication that the language user is unable to manage his
thoughts by not being able to represent them distinctly.
The main clauses that come together to form the compound sentence are
joined by coordinate conjunctions. As discussed in chapter six, coordinate
conjunctions are used to join two grammatical elements (i.e. Words, groups,
clauses) that have equal status. If coordinate conjunction is used to join two or
more main clauses, then we will have compound sentence. If they are used to
join two or more nouns, then we will have compound subject or compound
complement as the case may be. Below are some exemplifications with
compound sentences.
I have done it before, and I will do it again.

We can divide this sentence according to the number of main clauses that form
it:
Main clause 1: I have done it before,

and
Main clause 2: I will do it again.
I told him to go, but he refused.
Main clause 1: I told him,

but
Main clause 2: he refused.
The drums beat, the flutes sang, and

the expectation of the audience was aroused.
Main clause 1: The drums beat,
Main clause 2: the flutes sang,
and
Main clause 3: the expectation of the audience was aroused.
I will go and do it.

Main clause 1: I will go
and
Main clause 2: I will do it.
10.1.3 THE COMPLEX SENTENCE
Complex sentence is the sentence that is made up of a mixture of main

clauses and subordinate clauses. Both the coordinate and the subordinate
conjunctions are used here. Below are some examples along with respective
analysis:
I will give you when I get home.

Main clause: I will give you
Sub. Clause: when I get home.
If you respect me, I will respect you.
Sub. Clause: If you respect me,

Main clause: I will respect you.
I will honour you and recommend you for promotion if you respect me
and bring what I asked you to bring.
Main clause 1: I will honour you

Main clause 2: I will recommend you for promotion
Sub. Clause 1: if you respect me
Sub. Clause 2: if you bring what I asked you to bring.
If it rains, we will stay indoors and enjoy movies.
Main clause 1: we will stay indoors

Main clause 2: we will enjoy movies
Sub. Clause: If it rains.
She will do it when she gets home provided that what you are saying is true.
Main clause: She will do it

Sub. Clause 1: when she gets home
Sub. Clause 2: provided that what you are saying is true.
More can still be said about the English sentence and about all that has
been covered so far. It is recommended that more materials be consulted where
further information and guides are desired.
10.2 PUNCTUATION
By punctuation is meant marks such as full stop, comma, etc., used in

writing to separate parts of a sentence and to clarify meaning. The use of these
marks is also referred to as punctuation. The purpose of punctuation is to
make writing clear. A piece of information may be correct, but the way it is
punctuated may either clarify or obscure it. See the following:
A: I tell you, today I’ll give Jane her money.

B: I tell you today, I’ll give Jane her money.
The two sentences above have different meanings. The user of sentence A
simply affirms that he would give Jane her money that same day. The user of
sentence B, on the other hand, only promises Jane that he would give her her
money. He is not saying he would give Jane her money that same day. This
difference in meaning is brought about by the position of the comma used in
both sentences. There are several ways through which punctuation makes
writing clearer. These are given below:
1. It can clarify the structure of continuous writing (full stop, comma,

semicolon, colon, and brackets).
2. It can indicate sentences that form something else other than a
statement (question mark, exclamation mark, quotation mark).
3. It can show words that relate to each other (apostrophe, hyphen).
4. It can indicate that a group of letters is an abbreviation (full stop) or
that letters are missing (apostrophe).
10.2.1 THE FULL STOP ( . )

Full stop is also referred to as point, full point, and period.
10.2.1.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF FULL STOP
I. Full Stop is used to mark the end of a sentence.
She comes for lectures regularly.
II. Full stop is not used if the Sentence is a question or an exclamation

(a question mark or an exclamation mark is used instead). This is because
the question/exclamation mark already has a full stop.
What is your name?
She passed!
III. Full stops are routinely used after units of money (e.g. $9.99, $5.50),
before decimals (e.g. 2.9%), and between hours and minutes (e.g.
4.30p.m.). (Note that Standard American English uses colon as in
4:30p.m.)
IV. Abbreviations are increasingly spelled without full stop when they
are made up of all capitals letters.
AGM
NNE
ASE
NSE
LASU
NNPC
BUK
FIFA
UN
OPEC etc.
V. Abbreviations that are a mixture of capital and small letters do not

require full stop.
BSc
MSc
Ms
VI. When an abbreviation is made up of entirely small letters, full

stop should be used. This is because in this form, they are less
recognisable as abbreviations rather than Words.
a.o.b.
a.m.
e.g.
a.k.a. etc.
An exception to this rule is etc. which takes full stop only after the last
letter.
VII. Shortenings or abbreviations containing only the first few letters of

words are usually spelled with final full stop.
Co. (for Company)

Inst. (for Institute)
Prof. (for Professor)
Inc. (for Incorporated)
Oct. (for October)
Cert. (for Certificate) etc.
VIII.In abbreviations that end with the last letter of a word, full stop is
not used.
Dr
Mr
Dept etc.
8. If an abbreviation with a full stop comes at the end of a sentence,

another full stop is not added if the full stop of the abbreviation is the
last character in the
sentence. However, if the full stop is not the last character, a full stop
should be used to end the sentence.
Come with your books, crayon, pencils, etc.

Bring your writing materials (books, pencils, etc.).
10.2.2 THE COMMA ( , )
The role of comma is to give detail to the structure of sentences and to

make their meaning clear by marking off words that do or do not belong
together. It usually represents the natural breaks or pauses that we make use of
in speech. It is used differently at the level of group and at the level of word.
10.2.2.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF COMMA AT THE

LEVEL OF
GROUP/PHRASE
1. Use a comma to mark off parts of a sentence that are separated by
coordinate conjunctions (and, as, but, or, yet, etc.). This is important
when there is a CHANGE or REPETITION of Subject.
I tried to convince him, but he refused.

I will do it, and I will do it well!
II. It is not normally correct to join the clauses of a compound

sentence without a conjunction.
*I tried to convince him, he refused.*
In this sentence, the comma should be either replaced by a semicolon or

retained and followed with and or yet.
III. Do not separate a subject from its verb by a comma; it is wrong to do

so.
*The poor people, should not be allowed

to pass their exams.*
Instead write:
The poor people should not be allowed
to pass their exams.
IV. A comma is also used to separate parts of a sentence that balance or

complement each other and can introduce direct speech, especially in
continuation of a dialogue.
Parliament is not dissolved, only prolonged.

Then Ben said, ‘Is that it?’
V. The comma is used to prevent ambiguity or momentary

misunderstanding.
A hundred feet below, the woman in red dress was gazing up at me.
If the comma in this example is removed, the sentence will be ambiguous

(i.e. it will have more than one possible meaning).
VI. Commas are used in pairs to separate elements in a sentence that are
asides or not part of the main statement.
His father, the only wizard in the village, must

have killed the young child.
VII. Commas are also used to separate a relative clause from a main
clause when the relative clause is adding extra information and could be
removed from the sentence without altering the meaning of the sentence.
The money, which totals half a million, came

from anonymous donors.
VIII. A comma is used to separate a subordinate clause from a main

clause in a complex sentence if the subordinate clause comes before the
main clause.
When I get home, I will give you your money.

Not:
*When I get home I will give you your money.*
IX. A comma is used after adverbs and groups (usually prepositional

groups) that come at the beginning of a sentence.
Moreover, I had said you wouldn’t do it.
In the long run, she had to obstruct the meeting.
In such cases as we have above and many others, this comma is

optional, but one or more is usually needed with However when it
means by contrast or in the other hand.
10.2.2.2 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF COMMA AT

THE LEVEL OF WORD
I. Comma is used to separate adjectives having the same range of

reference coming before a noun.
A cold, damp, badly heated room.

A ruthless, manipulative person.
II. The comma as used under (I.) above can be replaced by ‘and’
between a pair of adjectives to make a stronger effect.
A ruthless and manipulative person.
III. The comma is omitted when the adjectives have a different range
of reference (e.g. size and colour) or when the last adjective has a closer
relation to the noun.
His baggy green jacket.

A dear little baby.
IV. Commas are used to separate items in a list or sequence.

He was given a plate of rice, a bottle of coke, and cake.
Comma before ‘and’ is regarded by many as unnecessary and left out.

However, there are cases where this kind of comma is essential for
clarity sake (e.g.
where one of the items on the list is a pair joined by and as in bread and
butter).
For breakfast, I want tea, fish, and bread and butter.
V. Leave out the comma between nouns that occur together in the
same grammatical role in a sentence (i.e. apposition).
My daughter Jane became a doctor.
His friend Segun was not around as well.
VI. In reference to ‘V’ above, use comma if the noun is a piece of

extra information that could be removed from the sentence without any
noticeable effect on the meaning.
His father, Segun Akande, was a good man.

His father was a good man.
6.2.2.3 MORE GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF COMMA
I. Commas are used in numbers of four or more figures to separate

each group of three consecutive figures starting from the right.
24, 356,234,345
II. Omit the comma when giving house number.

8 May Road.
6 Lagos Street.
III. Omit the comma when writing dates.
8 January 2020
24 December 2060
10.2.3 THE SEMICOLON ( ; )
Semicolon is the mark that causes the most trouble in ordinary writing.
But if you
use it carefully, it can be extremely helpful. Its main role is to mark a
grammatical separation that is stronger in effect than a comma but less strong
than a full stop.
10.2.3.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF SEMICOLON
I. Normally, the two parts of a sentence separated by a semicolon

balance each other as distinct from leading from one to the other (in which
case a colon is more suitable).
I will go to him tomorrow; I will let him know I hate him.
II. You can also use semicolon as a stronger division in a sentence that
already contains commas.
What has crippled him? Was it his grandmother,

frowning at his childish affection and turning it to
formality and cold courtesy; or his timid fearful
mother, in awe of everyone including, finally, him;
or was it his wife’s infidelity, or his own?
10.2.4 THE COLON ( : )
Colon tends to be much more used in formal print than in everyday

writing. Whereas a semicolon links two balanced statements, a colon leads
from the first statement to the other.
6.2.4.1.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF COLON
I. Typically, a colon links a general or introductory statement to an

example, a cause to an effect, or a premise to a conclusion. In many cases,
conjunction such as ‘so’ or ‘for example’ could be introduced between the
two halves.
He was being made to feel more part of the family:

the children kissed him good night.
II. Colon is used to introduce a list.
These are my needs: a pair of new shoes,

new shirt, and a pair of trousers.
III. A colon can, sometimes, give more drama to a statement in direct

speech.
Johnson told them: ‘The work has been done.’
5. In American English, a Colon follows the initial greetings in a letter, but

in British English, a comma is used.
Dear Mary: (American English)

Dear Mary, (British English)
10.2.5 THE BRACKETS (PARENTHESES) ‘( )’, ‘[ ]’
The brackets most often used in writing are round brackets ‘( )’.
10.2.5.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF BRACKETS

(PARENTHESES)
I. Round brackets are used to show explanations and additional

comments.
She lets herself plan what she would say, what her tone could be
(slow but serious), how much need she could show (fatigue,
strained loyalty).
II. Round brackets are also used to show optional words, implying
doubts, or caution about them.
There are many (apparent) difficulties.
III. Round brackets are also used to give references and statistic
information.
If music is the food of love, give me more;

give me excess of it (Shakespeare, Twelft Night).
IV. Square brackets, [ ], are used to enclose extra information provided,

often by someone other than the writer of the surrounding text to clarify an
obscure point or identity.
When Stephen had spoken to James,

he [Stephen] withdrew.
10.2.6 THE DASH (–)
A dash is a short line that demarcates a word. It is usually longer than a

hyphen.
10.2.6.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF DASH
I. A single dash is used to introduce an explanation or expansion of

what comes before it.
It is a kind of irony of history that I should write about French

Revolution in the very country where it had the least
impact – I mean England of course.
2. A pair of dashes is used to indicate asides and parentheses, forming a

more distinct break than commas would.
Segun has only seen his father once in his

adult life – until his flight from the city –
his brother is a virtual stranger to him.
10.2.7 THE EXCLAMATION MARK (!)
Exclamation mark shows in writing what we would normally say loudly

or strongly in speech to attract attention or to tell someone what to do.
10.2.7.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF EXCLAMATION MARK
I. It is used to mark command or warning.
Get out!
Run away!
II. It is used to show expression of strong feelings of absurdity,

surprise, approval, dislike, regret, etc., especially after ‘how’, or
‘what’.
How bad!
Aren’t they odd!
III. Exclamation mark is also used to express a wish or a feeling of

egret.
I’d love to be there!

If only I had known!
What a pity!
IV. It is used in speech to indicate someone calling out or shouting.
Outside Mary’s house, someone knocked, ‘Mary!’
6.2.8 THE QUOTATION MARK ( ‘ ’ )
The main use of the quotation marks (also called inverted commas) is to
indicate direct speech and quotations. Direct speech is the reporting of speech
by using the actual words of a speaker e.g. ‘I am going, ’ she said.
6.2.8.1 GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF QUOTATION MARKS
I. In direct speech and quotations, the closing quotation mark normally

comes after a final full stop and after any punctuation that forms part of the
quotation, such as an exclamation mark.
Jane shook her head as she said, ‘What a mess!’

He shouted, ‘Watch out!’
She said, ‘I am coming.’
II. When the quoted speech is followed or interrupted by a reporting

verb such as ‘say’, ‘said’, ‘shout’, etc., the punctuation that divides the
sentence is put inside the quotation marks.
‘No,’ he said.
‘You must be silly,’ she said.
III. If quoted word or group comes at the end of a sentence or coincides

with a comma, the punctuation that belongs to the sentence as a whole is
placed outside the quotation marks.
What is a ‘gigabyte’?
No one should ‘follow the multitude to do
evil’ the scripture says.
Note that American English uses double quotation:
“I am going,” he said.
British English only uses double quotation is another word or group is to

be quoted within a quotation while American English uses one.
‘What is a “gigabyte”?,’ she asked. (British English)

“What is a ‘gigabyte’?,” she asked. (American English)
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
PUTING YOUR ENGLISH TO THE TEST
SECTION A
In the following exercises, some of the structures in bold contain errors in the
use of the article (a, an, the). Rewrite the structures you feel contain error in
Standard English.
1. A dog is a faithful pet, not like monkey or cat.

2. Alice, the lady I met on the bus last night, told me she’s studying to
become computer analyst.
3. Among the English, exception proves the rule.
4. His uncle was charged with rape and was sent to the prison.
5. As a student, I need few books to read on every subject I’m learning in
school.
6. As students when we leave home for the school in the morning, let us
know that we have a duty to ourselves: to study hard.
7. Barman, give my friend and me a beer and coke.
8. Barman, I don’t want brandy; give me a beer.
9. Before the rain yesterday, there was a lightning for several hours.
10. Chinese do not love their country as much as Nigerians.
11. Dad, the story is a lie from the start to the finish.
12. Darling, please see me this evening; I have few things to discuss with
you.
13. Did you invite us to the launch with the view of robbing us of money?
14. Did you say you had to hurry home to help your daughter with a
homework?
15. Did you see the manager this morning? He was wearing a blue khaki
trousers.
16. Do you have cough? You‘d better go and buy cough syrup.
17. Do you want to watch the television or listen to radio?
18. Don’t be offended if I say this, I’ll never take a single advice from you
again.
19. Have you ever being to National Arts Theatre? I hear it’s such lovely
environment.
20. Have you told the captain that a luggage of yours is missing?
21. Mr and Mrs Pessy Mist have begun to take pride in their son’s
education.
22. Healthy society can tolerate a lot of criticism.
23. I consider it rude to talk to my father on telephone.
24. I didn’t quite enjoy the journey. There was accident wherever we
looked.
25. I entered an hotel yesterday, and I was amazed at what they called a
suite.
26. I have a bad news for you. I think your friends are all going to desert you
soon.
27. I have to complain to the doctor; my daughter has been running
temperature since day before yesterday.
28. I hear it all the time, but I’m yet to believe that Nigeria is land that flows
with opportunities.
29. I hear that the man has been made the head of department.
30. I heard on radio last night that the president wanted to resign. I even saw
it on the television this morning.
31. I saw the film from the beginning to the end.
32. I think I can help you out with some money; I still have little.
33. I’m afraid about the next elections. The politicians are threatening that
it’s going to be fight to finish.
34. I’m sorry for America. What used to be World Trade Centre is now
complete shambles.
35. I’m sorry to tell you but you can’t marry her. She had abortion last year,
which means she’s not a virgin.
36. I have an information to give you, so see me the day after tomorrow.
37. If you have cold, please do not come in. If you have fever please stay
away from here.
38. Take my advice, buy a jeep not car.
39. I want a proof of your love for me.
40. Is your child wearing a pant or not? You have to watch how she plays
in sand.
41. It cannot be said by any stretch of imagination that the police is your
friend.
42. It is the society that turns people into criminals and then locks them up.
43. It is unfortunate that although we have abundance of natural and human
resources in the country, we still cannot feed ourselves.
44. It was a good thing that a honest man was the chairman at the occasion.
45. It’s Christmas next week; my son needs a new shoe and I must buy it
today.
46. Let’s drive to the town; this place is becoming boring.
47. Majority of Nigerians are without a decent clothing and
accommodation.
48. Mum, I have an advice to give you. Why not telephone daddy and say
you are sorry.
49. My landlord, is it possible for me to buy a new land around here?
50. My granny wouldn’t be in bad state of health now if she hadn’t smoked
all her life.
SECTION B
In the following exercises, some of the structures in bold contain errors in the
use of the article (a, an, the). Rewrite the structures you feel contain error in
Standard English.
51. All the advices you gave me last night were useless.
52. I have a bad news for you. Your uncle is dead.
53. My mother is going to buy my sister a new shoe. I need one too.
54. The trouser is too short for someone of your size.
55. This is a very bad weather.
56. I love her a lot; she has a long hair.
57. Everybody donated to the fund. All the monies are to be given to the
motherless children.
58. All the informations in this book are not correct. I have seen them
somewhere before.
59. How can you move into an empty flat? You need to buy some furnitures
to equip it.
60. I have some homeworks to do.
61. Your grandfather is getting divorced? That’s an interesting news.
62. Our house is built of stones.
63. All my clothings were burnt during the fire outbreak.
64. That shop sells both children’s and ladies’ wears.
65. I like your knicker. It looks like my pant.
66. The camera is very beautiful, but you need to buy a new film if you want
good pictures.
67. I have many baggages already; I’m sorry I can’t help you.
68. All the sports equipments we ordered have arrived.
69. Can you please give me a paper to write a letter to your father?
70. To enjoy that shoe, you need to buy a polish to shine it everyday.
SECTION C
Supply the appropriate verbs and the corresponding pronouns in the exercises
below.
71. To be able to write language effectively one should know that spelling
with grammar, ..... important. This point, as well as thirty others, ...... the
focus of last lecture. I remember the lecturer telling us that verbs ..... to
agree with their subjects.
72. Either my wife or I ...... been invited to the party. But I doubt that I can go.
I think that if my wife can’t be there, either our two sons or the home help
...... going to have to represent us there.
73. If neither the news editor nor any of the reporters ...... received the call
from assassins, the chairman may have to dismiss the policemen. What I
suspect is that neither the reporters nor the editor ...... to be believed
because the news about the bombing may be untrue.
74. Last night, a bunch of keys ...... found by the guard. He gave ...... to the
officer in the reception. I’ve noticed that people are becoming more
honest. Last week a number of computers ...... stolen from the office
upstairs, but somebody found ...... and reported to the police.
75. Have you noticed that our newspapers publish over forty pages of trash?
To me, forty pages of worthless news ...... a waste of money for the
reader. What is more, some news ...... even not fit for public knowledge.
76. In some of our universities these days, law and order ...... an unimportant
aspect of lie and living. In fact to so many students, ‘law’ and ‘order’ ......
no more than social issues.
77. The high taste exhibited by majority of our leaders and numerous citizens
...... been criticized by the press from time to time. The number of people
that have been found to be extravagant in the way they spend ...... more
than one can imagine.
78. The United States ....... proved that when faced with hard times, ..... can
do without oil. If not, how does one explain ...... sudden search for
alternative sources of energy?
79. Our students have been told many times that knowledge of properties of
water and its molecular components..... necessary if any of hem is to pass
the next examination. The problem with many of the students as well as a
lot of lecturers ....... twofold: a lackadaisical attitude to research and an
unwillingness to pay attention to detail. Even in some non-academic
contexts, people are aware, for instance, that to be a good musician, some
knowledge of traditional African musical instruments and their
classification ....... required.
80. My friend Dr John is dead, but the ideal he lived and taught for so many
years to so many students..... however not to be forgotten. He use to say
that honesty, rather than kisses, money, romance, lively parties and so on,
...... all that a man needed to make a woman happy. How true? His
remains ...... buried a few weeks ago.
81. The food that people eat ....... to be nutritious in order to be a balance diet
although the hunger on the faces of our children ...... enough to tell if they
eat well or not.
82. The police confirmed this morning that ....... ......... holding former Beauty
Queen, Miss Quickie. She’s helping ....... with investigation into the death
of the former Mr Nigeria. Some human right activists have kicked against
her detention. The group ......... that if she’s not released before tomorrow,
........ will sue the police.
83. Journalism, rather than its numerous by-products, e.g. getting to know
about events first, being able to visit many restricted places, and even the
opportunity to travel ...... been described as a whole bundle of joy in
disguise. Many a journalist ..... yet to realise this fact but a good number
........ confirmed its validity.
84. Neither my uncle nor any of his wives ........ were to answer the question
on the matter. In fact, no member of the man’s family of about fifty is
people ....... around to witness the confusion.
85. Your family ..... here to se you. I have to ell you that ........ ........ been
waiting for five hours. By the way, when last did you visit ..... ? I guess
that’s why ......... came, ....... must have missed you a lot.
86. Neither of these two famous men gave any promise of greatness in .....
early manhood. Both men agreed, however, that each person in this
country must decide whether ...... will concern ...... with people or with
things.
87. My father is one of those fortunate men who ........ devoted ..... to a
profitable cause, although many a prominent man thinks that the main
ingredient of ....... success has been luck.
88. Everyone seems to feel that ...... own trouble are quite enough for ..... to
bear, but as your aunt always says, no progress is possible as long as
everyone insists upon ....... own individual rights. I must say, however,
that each person is entirely responsible for ..... actions in any situation.
89. Both Steve and Harry took ........ doctorate degree in the same year,
although neither their contemporaries nor their lecturer at the university
....... able to analyse ..... feelings about the achievement.
90. Any of the students would have been able to improve ..... by reading Mark
Twain’s books. The teacher’s claim was that some of the student’s food
that the students ate throughout their days in the university ...... not helpful
to them.
SECTION D
CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD
The following exercises contain blank spaces. Choose the right word(s)
from the given words to fill the given space(s).
91. ABOUT, ON
The lecturer referred us to a textbook ...... African history. Unfortunately
what most of us could get was a book for children ..... Africa and its
peoples. Although we had been given a good lecture ....... the Nigerian
economy, many of us could not sustain any conversation ...... money. In
fact, when I heard the argument ...... strikes, I forgot all the knowledge I
had got from learned articles ...... industrial problems.
92. ABOVE, OVER
The policeman pulled the sheet ...... the body, and I threw some water
..... the flames. When I looked at the house, it stood 2000ft .. .... sea
level. All I could think of at the time was my uncle who was now ........
fifty, and would complain whenever the temperature was two degrees
..... zero.
93. ACT, ACTION, DEED
My brother is impulsive in his .......s. To me helping the homeless is a(n)
........ of mercy. I hope the manager knows that, because recently he has
been found guilty of many foul ........s, unlike Mother Teraser who spent
her whole life doing good ......s.
94. ALL, WHOLE (You may also use the whole or all the where
necessary)
...... library was destroyed in the fire. I can never forgive the saboteurs
because ......... wine we were served were wasted. In fact, ...... money
spent on the party went down the drain. It was an ambition I had had ......
my life to have such a huge building. Well, it was not the first time that
...... buildings would be destroyed in Nigeria.
95. ALMOST, BARELY, SCARCELY, HARDLY
There was too much salt in the food. My wife ate ...... nothing. But there
were so many people at the occasion that there was ...... any space to
sit. The show had ........ ended before it started to rain, and ....... had it
started when the light went out.
96. ALTERNATELY, ALTERNATIVELY
Your brother’s absence from church may have been because of the
weather, or ...... it may have been the result of indigestion. A manic-
depressive, you know, he is ....... happy and depressed. But do you
know that the flag is ....... green and white?
97. AMONG, BETWEEN
We must all learn to divide our time ....... teaching, writing and listening
to music. But is there a way I can divide my possessions equally ...... my
four children? The twenty children are always talking ....... themselves,
and unknown to them, the killer was standing ...... them. Some time ago,
Nigerians hung flags across streets ....... houses.
98. ANTI- , COUNTER-
Nigeria needs to invest in some ...... espionage activities, otherwise we
will not know anything about our enemies. If the military authorities do
not want a ...... revolution, they should publish ...... war literature and
compel everybody to read it.
99. ARRANGE, ORGANIZE, PLAN
We were taught that to write a good essay we must first ....... our ideas
logically. And, darling, before we buy anything, let’s ..... the kitchen on
paper. I shouldn’t be telling you that because as a librarian, you are
familiar with how to ....... books in alphabetical order. But could you
...... a meeting with the members of my family on Monday, please?
100. AS, LIKE
The new law, ...... I said, is ...... the one that was passed in Ghana last
year. .......... Ghanaians, we must have a law of this kind --- ...... every
civilized country has, in fact. ..... you, I’m in favour of negotiation.
But I’m not prepared to give way to pressure, ...... you are. ...... I’m
sure you realize, we cannot afford to give other countries the idea that
we will put up with anything to maintain the peace, ...... Benue State.
The following exercises contain synonymous words. Choose the word that
best fits the context. Modify its form where necessary.
101. The killing of two defenceless university students ...... a
violent rebellion.
(cause, trigger off)
102. The accident ...... his confidence in his driving ability. (shatter,
break)
103. In spite of all attempts to elicit in formation, mother remain
quite ..... about the
promised surprise. (inscrutable, mysterious)
104. If you don’t like washing up, you could ...... into the possibility
of buying a
washing-up machine. (inquire, ask)
105. A most ..... argument about who should go and fetch the bread
from the
kitchen was going on between Lola and Benny when I came in. (trivial,
unimportant)
106. The ........ fashion for women to have their hair short is most
unfeminine.
(current, present)
107. Most of the people questioned in the survey were far more ......
than we hoped,
and gave very full answers to our questions. (sensitive, responsive)
108. The witness was ...... to tell us anything, but in the end, he
agreed. (unwilling,
reluctant)
109. Exactly how children learn to speak is a question which .....
linguists no less
now than twenty yeas ago. (baffle, astonish)
110. The father vowed he would ..... his daughter marrying the man.
(forestall,
prevent)
111. My uncle does not ....... money. (to rate, to assess, to value)
112. The chances of finding him were so ..... that they gave up the
search. (remote,
distant, far away)
113. Vultures live on ..... decaying carcasses. (grimy, filthy, grubby)
114. My son’s homework was a ....... that lasted two hours each
night. (work, chore,
task)
115. The surveyor ..... the damages to the house at one million naira.
(to estimate,
to evaluate, to value)
116. That’s our new lecturer. What a .... man! (lovely, pretty,
handsome)
117. The lady is a ..... student, never failing to turn up to lectures.
(honest,
conscientious, careful)
118. ..... is overestimating your own worth! (vanity, conceit, self-
esteem)
119. My former houseboy was very ...... with the children, looking
after them as
though they were his own. (honest, conscientious, careful)
120. The cleaner looked at the list of ..... to be done in the house and
groaned
inwardly. (task, chore, work)
121. What a pity that her manners are not as ..... as her face! (lovely,
pretty,
charming)
122. We felt as ...... as the wind, now that the long semester was
over. (carefree,
reckless, careless)
123. My do likes to ..... hens. (to chase, to run)
124. I was in bed, but still ..... when I heard a car arrive outside the
house. (alert,
awake, watchful)
125. Children must learn to be ..... with small animals. (gentle,
delicate)
126. He ..... backwards and forwards across the room like a caged
animal. (to pace,
to trot)
127. We ...... by the swimming pool in the sun the whole afternoon. (
to lounge, to
sit)
128. I ..... finish the job tomorrow. (anticipate, expect)
129. I can’t find any logical ....... between the two sentences. (tie,
bond, link)
130. Some trees ..... their leaves in winter. ( to shed, to throw)
131. I ........ not to go on such a dangerous journey, but nothing I
could say would
stop him. (to beg, to request)
132. The monkey which was caught in the trap ..... to get free. (to
struggle, to fight)
133. Artificial sweeteners have been ....... in many States in the
USA. (to ban, to
forbid)
134. The skin of the ripe tomatoes has ..... in the intense heat. (to
severe, to cut, to
rupture)
135. The journey through the mountains was most ...... (amiable,
pleasant)
136. The bride ..... for the day when she would see her home again.
(to long for, to
miss)
137. Now research is producing theories, which ..... long-held
views about animals.
(disagree, provide, challenge)
138. Our visit was rendered more pleasant by the ...... care of our
friends.
(solicitous, anxious, ready)
139. The defending army achieved a great ........ over the aggressors.
(conquest,
victory)
140. Ever ..... energy resources will soon pose serious problems on
a world-wide
scale. (to go down, to diminish, to decrease)
SECTION E
In the following exercises, some of the structures in bold contain errors.

Rewrite the structures you feel contain error(s) in Standard English.
141. After their release, many of the prisoners of war lamented that
they spent
most of the time in lonely isolation.
142. As for the possibility of Nigerians going to space, most of the
people have
continued to remain sceptical.
143. At the final completion of the programme, every on of us
will be awarded a
certificate of attendance.
144. At this time in the history of our nation, we must realize the
need for all the
ethnic groups to cooperate together with one another.
145. Both parties will need to meet together to decide what can be
done for the
refugees.
146. Curiously, this kind of attitude is not peculiar to only the
academic staff.
147. Divide the apple in two equal halves.
148. During the trial, we were restricted to only the evidence that
the witnesses
provided.
149. Evidently, the goalkeeper seemed to be bent on making his
team lose the
match against Spain.
150. First and foremost, you are not qualified to be our leader.
151. Given the surrounding circumstances, no one can blame the
child for
stealing to make ends meet.
152. Houses in Lagos have begun to appreciate in value since
government
promised to allow landlords a five-year tax free holiday.
153. I hate people who think they can prejudge events such as
beauty shows in
advance.
154. I observed that the editor and the manager were both talking to
each other.
155. I was filled with pity last night when I saw your father sitting
alone in the
garden all by himself.
156. If any remedy is to be found, we must first diagnose the true
nature of the
disease; but that, however, is not hard.
157. If these slaves re-gain their freedom again, they will ensure
that our power
over them is quashed.
158. If you want to borrow more money from the bank, you have to
return the
temporary loan that it gave you last week.
159. In actual fact, I do not like to be told what to do.
160. In appearance, all my friends look like masquerades.
161. In Soyinka’s play Death and the King’s Horseman’ the chief
protagonist did
not achieve his ambition.
162. It is possible that the lady’s father may come to the party to
look for her.
163. Nigeria is a country with a population of 150 million people.
164. Notwithstanding what the manager had said, however, the
strking wokers were
adamant about their demands.
165. One of the characteristics that distinguished men apart from
one another is
their taste for alcoholic drinks.
166. Our company is planning to do on joint partnership with the
new bank.
167. Our head of department if a self-confessed tyrant.
168. Persecution of the part of the Pentecostal Church and the
Celestial Assembly,
to both of whom the ideas of the Non-aligned Christian Sect were
equally
hateful, drove flocks of believers to the Orthodox Denomination.
169. Quietly, Mr Loudmouth whispered to his son that he intended
to elope with
the housemaid.
170. Seriously and without jesting, this is no light matter.
171. ‘Do you like Soyinka’s poems?’ ‘Yes, please.’
172. ‘Do you mind if I put on some music?’ ‘Yes; it’s been long since
I enjoyed good
music’
173. ‘How do you do?’ ‘Fine, thanks.’
174. ‘Rose, you’re late again.’ ‘I know it; I’m sorry.’
175. I hear you want to buy a car. Make sure you buy something
sleek and
compact; I hate bogus cars.
176. Your father ought not to have been arrested by the government
because he
holds a rather different view; I think his arrest was sheer witch-
hunting.
177. Afraid of what the hooligans might do to the members of
the public, they
were rounded up by the police.
178. After the bomb explosion, all the students went quickly home.
179. All of us enjoyed very much at the party last week.
180. There will be a free show at the centre tomorrow. Come one,
come all!
181. Also when my grandmother was 65 she used to dance ‘Twist’.
182. Many a times, I think about what I’ll look like when I’m old.
183. Although the principal had dismissed him, but my neighbour’s
son went to
school for another term.
184. Am coming to see you tomorrow.
185. You can be rest assured that I’ll bring you something nice.
186. Annoyed by his disobedience, James later apologise to his
father. (Recast
to show who was annoyed)
187. Apologise to the man and let bygone be bygone.
188. Are the banks opened today?
189. As soon as the woman entered into the room, a most unusual
smell spread
all over the room.
190. At 10.00 p.m. tonight, there’ll be a documentary on the life of
lions.
191. At the age of seven, my father took my younger sister to the
Philippines.
192. Be honest, do these clothes fit me? I’m asking because I want to
look
gorgeous tonight.
193. Because had failed to qualify as a doctor, the man advised his
son to think
of another profession.
194. Ahmad wants Suraj to borrow him some money.
195. Atimes, I take money from my friends.
196. By the way, Ambassador, how is the educational system in
your country?
197. Can any of the children in your nursery class read the 26
alphabets of
English by heart?
198. Can you come back some other time? I have work to be done.
199. Darling, there’s nothing between that lady and I.
200. Did your aunt need to put love portion in your uncle’s food
before he could
love her?
201. Did you see an old fat lady in the reception?
202. Do not associate with that young man -- he’s a dupe. I lost five
thousand to
him last month.
203. Does it worth it to live to be two hundred?
204. Don’t forget that it’s the society that makes people behave that
way.
205. Don’t forget writing to your sick aunt.
206. Don’t swear by your dead father; the dead is not aware of
anything.
207. Don’t tell me you spent the whole money on your girlfriend.
208. Don’t you think that the new receptionist looks splendid in her
lemon green
skirt suit?
209. Driving to town in the new Mercedes Benz car, neighbours
waved at the
newly wed couple.
210. Einstein’s theory of relativity is very difficult, but few people
understand it.
211. Even if the doctors operate him, he will die – the poison has
damaged all his
internal organs.
212. Every sex has its own physical and psychological
characteristics.
213. Everyday, I write a love letter to a lady across the street.
214. Excuse me, Dr Ogunpitan, the Vice Chancellor would like you
to give me a
written note to assure him that you have sent me.
215. Don’t visit me tomorrow; I’d rather you come next week.
216. I saw the film from the beginning to the end – it was rubbish.
217. Generally moody during the day, the man did not know how
to ask his wife
what her problem really was.
218. George always says that if he has a car, things would be fine
for him.
219. Ghana cannot beat Nigeria by any manner or means in the
match.
220. Going back home drunk one night, the police arrested our
father.
221. Going through the market, ingredients were found to be very
expensive
these days.
222. Harrison on Tuesday told me that he wanted to take a second
wife.
223. Have we got enough of rice for six people?
224. Having been introduced by the emcee, the guests clap as the
guest of
honour walked towards the stage.
225. Having been struck by lightning once before, the doctor
advised the
patience to avoid staying near pointed objects in order not to have a
second
attack.
226. Having been questioned thoroughly by the police, the
Inspector told the
suspect to go back home.
227. He’s not a good teacher – he never expantiates anything once
he’s through
with talking about it.
228. Her husband is not a good cooker.
229. Human Chemical Ecology is a very difficult subject; a few
people understand
it.
230. His wife drank the whole wine. How selfish of her!
231. How do you cope with the couple? They are so strange
people.
232. However did you manage to end up with this kind of bully?
233. I am the director of the programme for ten years now.
234. I have few interest in such things.
235. I hear your daughter is studying to be a doctor.
236. I heard on radio last night that the government had been
overthrown.
237. I heard when the asked for the price of the dress.
238. I hope you will remember going to the post office tomorrow
morning.
239. I know my spoken English is poor, but your accent is worst
than mine.
240. I know that the thief is not upstairs because I heard him went
down the
stairs an hour ago.
241. I love the dress but I don’t like the finishing.
242. I need a drink. Can you tell me the way to the nearest inn,
please?
243. I received you gift. Thank you indeed.
244. I thank the committee for the help; I will ever remember them.
245. I’d like you to know that there’s no enemity between us.
246. I’ve bought my ticket yesterday.
247. If the president has more sense, he will know that this man
should be ignored.
248. In order to make the bed warmer, another blanket was laid
on it.
249. It took the troop two hours to walk across the forest.
250. Let me tell you something. I started working for this firm before
three
years.
KEY
Some of the answers here are not absolute, but the student (or teachers) is
strongly advised to be sure of the alternative ones.
1. a monkey or a cat
2. a computer analyst
3. the exception
4. sent to prison
5. a few books
6. for school
7. and a coke
8. give me beer
9. there was lightning
10. The Chinese
11. from start to finish
12. a few things
13. with a view
14. with (her) homework
15. wearing blue khaki trousers
16. have a cough? ...buy a cough syrup
17. watch television or listen to the radio?
18. take advice from you
19. the National Arts Theatre? ... a lovely environment
20. some luggage
21. take a pride
22. A healthy society
23. on the telephone
24. an accident
25. a hotel ... called a suite
26. have bad news
27. running a temperature since the day before yesterday
28. a land
29. made head of department
30. on the radio ... on the television
31. from beginning to end
32. have a little
33. be a fight to the finish
34. ...the World Trade Centre is now a complete shambles
35. had an abortion
36. some information...see me the day after tomorrow
37. have a cold ... have a fever
38. not a car
39. I want proof of your love
40. wearing pants or not? ... plays in the sand
41. of the imagination
42. It is society
43. have an abundance
44. an honest man was chairman
45. needs new shoes ... buy them today
46. drive to town
47. The majority of ...without decent clothing
48. have (some) advice
49. buy land
50. in such a bad state of health
51. All the advice ... was
52. have bad news
53. buy my sister new shoes. I need a pair, too
54. Those trousers
55. This is very bad weather
56. ...she has long hair
57. All the money is ...
58. All the information .... is ..... I have seen it....
59. buy some furniture
60. some homework
61. That’s interesting news
62. built of stone
63. All my clothing was ... /All my clothes were...
64. and ladies’ wear
65. your knickers. They look like my pants
66. buy good film
67. have a lot of baggage
68. All the sports equipment ... has
69. give me (some) paper/a piece of paper
70. enjoy those shoes ... buy polish .... them every day
71. is, was, have
72. have, is
73. have, is
74. was, it, were, them
75. is, is
76. has, are
77. has, his
78. has, it, its
79. is, is, is
80. is, was, were
81. has, is
82. they were, them, have/has, they/it
83. has, is, have
84. was, was
85. are, they have, them, they, they
86. his, he, himself
87. have, themselves, his
88. his, him, his, his
89. their, is, his
90. himself, was
91. on, about, on about, about, on
92. over, over, above, over, above
93. actions, act, deeds, deeds
94. The whole, all the, all the, all, whole
95. almost, hardly, barely, scarcely
96. alternatively, alternately, alternately
97. between, among, among, among, between
98. counter, counter, anti
99. organize, plan, arrange, arrange
100. as, like, Like, as, Like, as, As, like
101. trigger off
102. shattered
103. inscrutable
104. inquire
105. trivial
106. current
107. responsive
108. reluctant
109. baffles
110. prevent
111. value
112. remote
113. grubby
114. task
115. value
116. handsome
117. conscientious
118. conceit
119. careful
120. chores
121. lovely
122. carefree
123. chase
124. awake
125. gentle
126. paced
127. sat
128. anticipate
129. link
130. shed
131. requested
132. struggled
133. banned
134. ruptured
135. pleasant
136. longed for
137. challenge
138. ready
139. victory
140. diminishing
141. lonely
142. have continued to
143. final
144. together with one another
145. together
146. only
147. two equal
148. only
149. Evidently
150. and foremost
151. surrounding
152. in value
153. in advance
154. both
155. all by myself
156. but
157. again
158. temporary
159. actual
160. In appearance
161. chief
162. It is possible that
163. people
164. however
165. apart
166. joint
167. self
168. equally
169. Quietly
170. Seriously, and apart from jesting
171. Yes I do
172. No, it’s been long ...
173. ‘How do you do?’ – ‘How do you do?’
174. I know; I’m sorry.
175. I hate big cars ...
176. ...sheer witch-hunt
177. Afraid of what ... public, the police rounded them up.
178. ... students went home quickly
179. enjoyed themselves
180. ... Come one and all.
181. Even when my ...
182. Many times
183. ... dismissed him, my neighbour’s son ...
184. I’m coming ...
185. You can be assured/You can rest assured
186. James later apologized to his father who had been annoyed by his
disobedience.
187. Let bygones be bygones
188. Are the banks open today?
189. the woman entered the room
190. At 10.00 tonight ...
191. When my younger sister was seven, my father took her to the
Philippines.
192. Do these clothes suit me?
193. Because the man’s son had failed to qualify as a doctor, he
advised him to think of another profession.
194. to lend her some money, At times
195. wasn’t it I who
196. what is the educational system like in your country?
197. read the 26 letters of the English alphabet
198. I have work to do
199. between the lady and me
200. put love portion
201. a fat old lady
202. he’s a con-artist
203. Is it worth it
204. it’s society that
205. forget to write to
206. the dead are not
207. spent all the money
208. in her lemon skirt suit
209. As the newly wed couple were driving to town in the new
Mercedes Benz car, neighbours waved at them.
210. a few people
211. doctors operate on him
212. Each sex
213. Every day
214. give me a note
215. I’d rather you came
216. from beginning to end
217. Because the woman was generally moody, her husband did not
know how to ask her what her problem really was.
218. if he had a car
219. by any manner of means
220. While our father was going back home one night, the police
arrested him.
221. While we were going through the market, we found ingredients
very expensive.
222. On Tuesday, Harrison ...
223. enough rice
224. As the guest of honour walked towards the stage after he had been
introduced by the emcee, the guests clapped.
225. Because the man had been struck by lightning once before, the
doctor advised him to avoid staying near pointed objects in order not to
have a second attack.
226. After he suspect had been thoroughly questioned by the police, the
Inspector told him to go back home.
227. he never expatiates on anything
228. not a good cook
229. few people understand it
230. drank all the wine
231. They are such strange people
232. How did you manage
233. I have been the director
234. I have little interest
235. studying to be a doctor
236. I heard on the radio
237. when she asked the price of the dress
238. will remember to go
239. worse than mine
240. I heard him go down the stairs
241. like the finish
242. the nearest pub
243. Thank you very much
244. I will always remember them
245. enmity
246. I bought my ticket yesterday
247. had more sense
248. one more blanket
249. walk through the forest
250. started working for this firm three years ago.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adebukunola, A. A. (1999).Understanding English Language. Lagos:

Jehovah Shammah
Adejare, and Adejare. (1996) Tertiary English Grammar. Agbara: Difamo
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Understanding Grammar

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UNDERSTANDING PRESENT--DAY

For the Non-native Speakers.

Inde pe nde nt l y P ubl i s he d

©2015 Kasimawo R. Stephen

KASIMAWO Ramoni Stephen

Other books by the author:

English for Professional Journalism and Advance Communication

Inde pe nde nt l y P ubl i s he d

CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION GRAMMAR

1.1 Grammar ----- 1

CHAPTER TWO: THE ENGLISH NOUN

2.1 Noun ----- 13

CHAPTER THREE: THE ENGLISH PRONOUN

3.1 Pronoun ----- 37

CHAPTER FOUR: THE ENGLISH VERB

4.1 Verb ----- 49

CHAPTER FIVE: THE ENGLISH ADJECTIVE & ADVERB

5.1 The English Adjectives ----- 71

CHAPTER SIX: THE ENGLISH PREPOSITION & CONJUNCTION

6.1 The English Preposition ----- 77

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ENGLISH GROUP & PHRASE

7.1 The Group & Phrase ----- 105

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ENGLISH CLAUSE

8.1 The Clause ----- 111

8.1.2 The Predicator ----

CHAPTER NINE: CONCORD/AGREEMENT, & SPELLING

9.1 Concord (Agreement) ----- 125

CHAPTER TEN: THE ENGLISH SENTENCE & PUNCTUATION

10.1 The Sentence ----- 135

CHAPTER ELEVEN: PUTTING YOUR ENGLISH TO THE TEST----

KEY ----- 165

BIBLIOGRAPHY ----- 173

Grammar can be explained as a set of rules that govern the use of

GRAMMATICAL RANK SCALE MORPHEME

1.1.1 THE MORPHEME

Morpheme is defined as the smallest meaningful and indivisible unit of

1.1.1.1 CLASSES OF MORPHEME

Morphemes can be classified into two. These include free morphemes

THE FREE MORPHEME

THE BOND MORPHEME

Bond morphemes are morphemes that cannot stand as a word. Bond

Kind (adjective) + -ness (suffix) = kindness (noun)

1.1.1.2 AFFIXATION (DERIVATION)

Affixation (also derivation) is a process of word formation, in which one

There are two kinds of affixation: prefixation and suffixation. In former,

Affixes are classified:

1. in terms of productivity: Some affixes are more productive such as un-,

Prefixes: un-, dis-, mis-, pre-, etc.

Native affixes: un-, mis-, be-, out-, over-,-less, -ness, -dom,

Generally speaking, a native affix will be added to a native base. But we do

Rewrite (Latin prefix re- plus a native base ‘write’)

Negative affixes: un-, non-, in-, dis-, a- etc.

a) reversative affixes: un-, de-, dis-, etc.

1.1.2 THE WORD

Word can be defined as a unit of grammar that represents a thought.

Entertainment (entertain + -ment: two morphemes but one word)

1.1.2.1 WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

There are various word formation processes in English. Some of these

1.2 CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS

Following the explanation of MAK Halliday, what grammarians do is to

You have to know that this definition is inappropriate. According to the

A naming word or group of words.

It is a naming word in that it could be a single word naming a person,