GE SERIES

ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB

Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They may come before the word they describe (That is a cute puppy.) or they may follow the word they describe (That puppy is cute.).

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For example:

• "I ate a meal." Meal is a noun. We don't know what kind of meal; all we know is that someone ate a meal.

• "I ate an enormous lunch." Lunch is a noun, and enormous is an adjective that modifies it. It tells us what kind of meal the person ate.

Adjectives usually answer one of a few different questions: "What kind?" or "Which?" or "How many?"

For example:

• "The tall girl is riding a new bike." Tall tells us which girl we're talking about. New tells us what kind of bike we're talking about.

• "The tough professor gave us the final exam." Tough tells us what kind of professor we're talking about. Final tells us which exam we're talking about.

• "Fifteen students passed the midterm exam; twelve students passed the final exam." Fifteen and twelve both tell us how many students; midterm and final both tell us which exam.

So, generally speaking, adjectives answer the following questions:

- Which?

- What kind of?

- How many?

- The Basic Rules: Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify everything but nouns and pronouns. They modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. A word is an adverb if it answers how, when, or where. The only adverbs that cause grammatical problems are those that answer the question how, so focus on these.

Let's look at verbs first.

• "She sang beautifully." Beautifully is an adverb that modifies sang. It tells us how she sang.

• "The cellist played carelessly." Carelessly is an adverb that modifies played. It tells us how the cellist played.

Adverbs also modify adjectives and other adverbs.

• "That woman is extremely nice." Nice is an adjective that modifies the noun woman. Extremely is an adverb that modifies nice; it tells us how nice she is. How nice is she? She's extremely nice.

• "It was a terribly hot afternoon." Hot is an adjective that modifies the noun afternoon. Terribly is an adverb that modifies the adjective hot. How hot is it? Terribly hot.

So, generally speaking, adverbs answer the question how. (They can also answer the questions when, where, and why.)

Some other rules:

Most of the time, adjectives come before nouns. However, they come after the nouns they modify, most often when the verb is a form of the following:

Be, Feel, Taste, Smell,Sound, Look, Appear, Seem.

For examples:

• "The dog is black." Black is an adjective that modifies the noun dog, but it comes after the verb. (Remember that "is" is a form of the verb "be.")

• "Brian seems sad." Sad is an adjective that modifies the noun Brian.

• "The milk smells rotten." Rotten is an adjective that modifies the noun milk.

• "The speaker sounds hoarse." Hoarse is an adjective that modifies the noun speaker.

Be sure to understand the differences between the following two examples:

"The dog smells carefully." Here, carefully describes how the dog is smelling. We imagine him sniffing very cautiously.

But:

"The dog smells clean." Here, clean describes the dog itself. It's not that he's smelling clean things or something; it's that he's had a bath and does not stink.

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CONJUNCTION

Conjunction may be used to indicate the relationship between the ideas expressed in a clause and the ideas expressed in the rest of a sentence. The conjunctions in the following examples are printed in bold type.

e.g. We could go to the library, or we could go to the park.

He neither finished his homework nor studied for the test.

I went out because the sun was shining.

1. Coordinate conjunctions

Coordinate conjunctions are used to join two similar grammatical constructions; for instance, two words, two phrases or two clauses.

e.g. My friend and I will attend the meeting.

Austria is famous for the beauty of its landscape and the hospitality of its people.

The sun rose and the birds began to sing.

In these examples, the coordinate conjunction and is used to join the two words friend and I, the two phrases the beauty of its landscape and the hospitality of its people, and the two clauses the sun rose and the birds began to sing.

The most commonly used coordinate conjunctions are and, but and or. In addition, the words nor and yet may be used as coordinate conjunctions. In the following table, each coordinate conjunction is followed by its meaning and an example of its use. Note the use of inverted word order in the clause beginning with nor.

Coordinate Conjunctions :

And : in addition She tried and succeeded.

But : however They tried but did not succeed.

Or : alternatively Did you go out or stay at home?

Nor : and neither I did not see it, nor did they.

Yet : however The sun is warm, yet the air is cool.

As illustrated above, when a coordinate conjunction joins two verbs which have the same subject, the subject need not be repeated. For instance, in the example she tried and succeeded, the pronoun she acts as the subject for both the verb tried and the verb succeeded. It should also be noted that when a coordinate conjunction joins two verbs which do not have the same subject, the two coordinate clauses may be separated by a comma or semicolon, in order to make the meaning clear.

2. Correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs, in order to show the relationship between the ideas expressed in different parts of a sentence. For instance, in the following example, the expression either ... or is used to indicate that the ideas expressed in the two clauses represent two alternative choices of action.

e.g. Either you should study harder, or you should take a different course.

The most commonly used correlative conjunctions are both ... and, either ... or and neither ... nor. In the table below, each pair of correlative conjunctions is accompanied by an example of its use. Note that in the construction if ... then, the word then can usually be omitted.

Correlative Conjunctions :

both ............... and He is both intelligent and good-natured.

either ............. or I will either go for a walk or read a book.

neither ........... nor He is neither rich nor famous.

hardly ............ when He had hardly begun to work, when he was interrupted.

if .................... then If that is true, then what happened is not surprising.

no sooner ....... than No sooner had I reached the corner, than the bus came.

not only ......... but also She is not only clever, but also hard-working.

rather ............. than I would rather go swimming than go to the library.

scarcely ... …..when Scarcely had we left home, when it started to rain.

what with ...... and What with all her aunts, uncles and cousins, she has many relatives.

whether ......... or Have you decided whether you will come or not?

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Present Progresive Tense

The present progressive tense takes the form be + V ing.

The form of be is determined by the subject of the sentence.

The Example :

• He is singing.

• She is listening.

• They are sleeping.

• I am going home.

In English, the present progressive is used to indicate actions happening at the time of speaking, or right now.

The Example :

• Jake is speaking to his mother right now.

• Please keep quiet. The baby is sleeping.

The present progressive can also be used to indicate actions occurring over a period of time which includes the present.

The Example :

• I'm taking five classes at the university.

• Grace is working at a chemical factory.

• What are you doing these days?

The present progressive is sometimes used to indicate ongoing, developing, imminent or future actions.

Ongoing :

• Don't bother Mr. Grumpy while he is watching the football game.

Developing :

• I'm beginning to like this place!

Imminent :

• A: Honey, where are you?

• B: I'm coming. Just let me put on my shoes.

Future (Note the presence of future time words.)

• A: Are you going to the concert this weekend?

• B: I wish I could, but I'm meeting an important client from Oklahoma.

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GERUND AND INFINITIVE

Gerund

Gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, since a gerund functions as a noun, it occupies some positions in a sentence that a noun ordinarily would, for example: subject, direct object, subject complement, and object of preposition.

Example :

• I enjoy listening to music.

  The object of a verb is usually a noun or pronoun. The object of a cerb can also be a gerund. A gerund is the -ing form of a verb. It is used as a noun. Listening is a gerund. It is the object of the verb enjoy.

Infinitive

In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual (traditional) description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition of infinitive that applies to all languages. Many Native American languages and some languages in Africa and Aboriginal Australia simply do not have infinitives or verbal nouns. In their place they use finite verb forms used in ordinary clauses or special constructions.

In languages that have infinitives, they generally have most of the following properties:

• In most uses, infinitives are non-finite verbs.

• They function as other lexical categories — usually nouns — within the clauses that contain them, for example by serving as the subject of another verb.

• They do not represent any of the verb's arguments (as employer and employee do).

• They are not inflected to agree with any subject

• They cannot serve as the only verb of a declarative sentence.

• They do not have tense, aspect, moods, and/or voice, or they are limited in the range of tenses, aspects, moods, and/or voices that they can use. (In languages where infinitives do not have moods at all, they are usually treated as being their own non-finite mood.)

• They are used with auxiliary verbs.

However, it bears repeating that none of the above is a defining quality of the infinitive; infinitives do not have all these properties in every language, as it is shown below, and other verb forms may have one or more of them. For example, English gerunds and participles have most of these properties as well.

Example :

• I want to eat a sandwich.

  The object of the verb is a noun (a sandwich). The object of a verb can also be an infinitive. An infinitive is to + the simple form of a verb. To eat is an infinitive. It is the object of the verb want.