XXXIV - GRAMMAR Prefixes

Prefixes



A prefix is a group of letters placed at the start of a
root word to change its meaning. Some complicated words
are less difficult to understand if you are familiar with
prefixes.

Here are some common examples in the following list:



PREFIX	MEANING	EXAMPLES
anti-	against or opposite to	anticlockwise, antibiotic
auto-	self	autobiography, automat
dis-	not, or away	dissimilar, disconnect
in-	not	insane, inhuman
il-	not	illogical, illegal
im-	not	immature, improbable
ir-	not	irrelevant, irregular
inter-	between	international, intermarry
mis-	wrong	misunderstand, misspell
post-	after	postnatal, postscript
pre-	before	prenatal, prehistoric
pro-	for, or forward	propose, pro-British
re-	again, or back	rewrite, reconsider
sub-	under	submarine, substandard
super-	above	supervisor, superhuman
trans-	across	transport, transplant
un-	not, or in reverse	unfinished, unarmed

XXX - GRAMMAR Forming the plural

THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
boat	boats
hat	books
river	rivers

If a word ends in ch, x, sh, s or ss, then we add es rather than just s to make a plural.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
beach	beaches
fox	foxes
chess	chesses

A noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant makes the plural with -ies.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
A cry	cries
a fly	flies
a nappy	nappies
a poppy	poppies
a city	cities
a lady	ladies
a baby	babies

Some words make their plural in a different way. 

Examples of irregular plurals:

Singular	Plural
woman	women
man	men
child	children
tooth	teeth
foot	feet
person	people
leaf	leaves
half	halves
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives
loaf	loaves
potato	potatoes
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
syllabus	syllabi/syllabuses
analysis	analyses
diagnosis	diagnoses
oasis	oases
thesis	theses
crisis	crises
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria
datum	data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
fish	fish
species	species
aircraft	aircraft

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Examples:

-          news --> The news is on at 6.30 p.m.

-          athletics -->  Athletics is good for young people.

-          linguistics -->  Linguistics is the study of language.

-          darts -->  Darts is a popular game in England.

-          billiards -->  Billiards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a plural form and take a plural verb.

Examples:

-          trousers -->  My trousers are too tight.

-          jeans -->  Her jeans are black.

-          glasses -->  Those glasses are his.

others include:

savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

XXXII - GRAMMAR Double negative

Double Negative

A double negative is usually produced by combining the negative form of verb (e.g., cannot, did not, have not) with a negative pronoun (e.g., nothing, nobody), a negative adverb (e.g., never, hardly) or a negative conjunction (e.g., neither/nor).

Examples:

• I didn't see nothing.
• I did not have neither her address nor her phone number. 
• It wasn't uninteresting
• She is not unattractive. 

A double negative gives the sentence a positive sense. (e.g., "I didn't see nothing" is similar in meaning to "I saw something.") A double negative is not always an error. The latter two examples, meaning "It was interesting." and "She is attractive.", are fine.

Example:

• I cannot say that I do not disagree with you. 

(This brilliant quote by Groucho Marx can be considered a triple negative. If you follow it through logically, you'll find it means "I disagree with you".)

Interactive example:

•  She claims she has not seen neither Paul nor John since May.

XXXIII - GRAMMAR More on modals

MORE ON MODAL VERBS

Grammar:

Modal verbs, also called modal auxiliaries or simply modals, are a type of auxiliary verb or helping verb. English has ten modal verbs:

can		could
may		might
shall		should
will		would
must		ought to

Modals express the mood a verb, such as ability, possibility, necessity, or another condition. They are used with a main verb to form a sentence or a question. Modals are not conjugated, have no tense, and cannot be used without a main verb.

When used with modal verbs (except ought), main verbs always remain in the infinitive without to.

In a statement the word order is subject + modal + main verb.

subject	modal	main verb
They	can	come.
Mike	should	walk.

In questions, the word order changes to modal + subject + main verb.

yes-no questions:
modal	subject	main verb
Can	they	come?
Should	Mike	drive?
wh- questions:
wh- word	modal	subject	main verb
When	can	they	come?
How	could	he	know?

Can:

The modal can indicates possibility or ability:

• Tom can help you.
• Wild animals can be dangerous.
• Dining out can be costly.

In questions, the modal can requests permission to do something or to ask about possibilities:

• Can I help you?
• Can Mike come over for dinner?
• Who can answer the next question?
• When can we get back the results?

Could:

Could indicates possibility or ability in the past:

• I could have told you that.
• It could have been a disaster.
• When I was young, I could run very fast.

Could speculates about future posibilities. In the following examples could and might are synonomous.

• It could / might rain tonight.
• That could / might be dangerous.

In yes-no questions, could speculates about present posibilities:

• Could she be the murderer?
• Could this be a mistake?

It can also make a request. In these examples could and can are synonomous, but could is more polite.

• Could / Can you open your window?
• Could / Can you help me move this sofa?
• Could indicates an option:
• We could go see a movie.
• I could become a doctor.

The modal could is also used to form the conditional. The conditional contains an if clause and a result clause. Could is placed in the result clause.

• In these examples, could expresses hypothetical situations:
• If I had time, I could play tennis with you.
• We could study together, if you want to.
• If it weren't raining, we could go on a picnic.

Could mentions something that didn't happen because a certain condition was not met:

• If we had left sooner, we could have taken the train.
• I could have passed the exam if I had studied more.
• I'm glad we took umbrellas. We could have gotten soaked.

Shall and Will:

The modals shall/will + main verb are used to create future tenses. These modals indicate an intention or an action that is expected to happen in the future.

When used in statements, there is no difference in meaning between these two modals; however, shall is rarely used in American English.

• I will / shall close the door for you.
• Tom will / shall meet us at the train station.
• They will / shall leave tomorrow at 8:00.

In wh- questions, shall and will ask about options.

• Who will / shall drive the car?
• When will / shall I see you again?
• How will / shall you get here?
• What time will / shall we meet?

In yes-no questions, shall and will have different meanings.

Will asks a favor.

• Will / Shall you turn off the TV?
• Will / Shall you stop whining?
• Will / Shall you go with me?

Will also asks for information or knowledge about somebody or something.

• Will / Shall Tom ever pay you back?
• Will / Shall Mars be visited by humans within twenty years?
• Will / Shall you be finished soon?

Shall asks about a preference. In these examples, shall and should are synonomous. In American English, shall is rarely used; when it is, it's only in the first person singular and plural.

• Should / Shall I close the door?
• Should / Shall he close the door?
• Should / Shall they come back later?
• Should / Shall Tom bring food to the party?
• Should / Shall we stay here?

May and Might:

The modals may and might indicate an uncertain future action. These two modals are synonymous.

• I may / might go to the park, or I may / might stay home.
• This may / might be a bad idea.
• It may / might rain tonight.

May or can gives instructions or permission.

• You may / can now board the airplane.
• You may / can begin the exam in ten minutes.

In yes-no questions that make a request, you can use may or can. May is more polite.

• May / Can I see your driver's license?
• May / Can we have some more water, please?

You can write might in place of may or can, but this is extremely rare in American English.

• May / Can / Might I be of some assistance?
• May / Can / Might we offer you a suggestion?

Must:

The modal must indicates an obligation.

• You must see this movie.
• Tom must see a doctor immediately.

Must also indicates an assumption or probability.

• My watch must be broken.
• He must have done that before moving to Spain.

In wh- questions, must is an obligation and can be replaced with the modal should. In American English, should is much more common in these types of questions.

• When should / must we be there?
• Who should / must I talk to?

Must can sometimes form rhetorical questions, when you want the person to stop doing something.

Must you make so much noise?	=	Please be quiet.
Must he ask so many questions?	=	I hope he stops asking questions.

Should and Ought (to):

The modals should and ought to indicate an obligation. These two modals are synonymous.

• You should / ought to call your mother.
• I should / ought to go home now.

When used in questions, should asks if an obligation exists. Ought is never used in questions in American English.

• Should he call her?
• Should we pay now?
• When should we leave?
• What should I wear?

Would:

Would followed by like is a polite way of stating a preference.

• I would like white wine with my fish.
• We would like a room with a view.

In questions, would + subject + like is a polite request for a choice to be made.

• Would you like soup or salad with your meal?
• Where would you like to eat dinner?
• When would Tom like this delivered?

Would can make a request sound more polite.

Come here!	Would you come here?
Stop making that noise!	Would you stop making that noise?

Would explains an action as a result of a supposed or real condition.

• I would go with you if I didn't have to work.
• If I had not had to work, I would have gone with you.
• She would be surprised if you came to the party.
• Tom would drive, but he doesn't have a license.

Would introduces habitual actions in the past.

• When I was a student, I would go swimming every day.
• When Tom lived in France, he would write me long letters.

XXXI - GRAMMAR Basic rules to form a question

QUESTION FORMS: BASIC RULES

1.    Questions are made by putting an auxiliary verb before the subject.

-          Have you received my letter of June 17th?

-          Is your mother coming tomorrow?

auxiliary	subject	main verb
have	you	received
is	your mother	coming

Note that only the auxiliary is put before the subject. 

The rest of the verb phrase comes after it:

-          Where are the president and his family staying?

2.    When a verb phrase has no auxiliary its question form is made with do, followed by the infinitive without to.

-          Do you like Mozart?

-          What does ‘periphrastic’ mean?

3.    Do is not used to make questions with modal verbs (can, must, should, may etc.), or with the verb To Be:

-          Can you tell me the time?

-          Are you ready?

4.    When who, what or which is the subject of a sentence, it comes directly before the verb, and do is not used:

-          Who left the door open?

If who, what or which is the object of a sentence, the normal rules are followed:

-          Who do you want to speak to?

-          What are you doing?

VI - GRAMMAR Long and short vowels

Long and short vowels

Traditionally, the vowels /eɪ iː aɪ oʊ juː/ (as in bait beet bite boat beauty) are said to be the "long" counterparts of the vowels /æ ɛ ɪ ɒ ʌ/ (as in bat bet bit bot but) which are said to be "short". This terminology reflects their pronunciation before the major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1500.

Traditional English phonics teaching, at the preschool to first grade level, often used the term "long vowel" for any pronunciation that might result from the addition of a silent E (e.g., like) or other vowel letter as follows:

Letter	"Short"	"Long"	Example
A a	/æ/	/eɪ/	"mat" / "mate"
E e	/ɛ/	/iː/	"pet" / "Pete"
I i	/ɪ/	/aɪ/	"twin" / "twine"
O o	/ɒ/	/oʊ/	"not" / "note"
U u	/ʌ/	/juː/	"cub" / "cube"

A mnemonic was that each vowel's long sound was its name.

In Middle English, the long vowels /iː, eː, ɛː, aː, ɔː, oː, uː/ were generally written i..e, e..e, ea, a..e, o..e, oo, u..e. With the Great Vowel Shift, they came to be pronounced /aɪ, iː, iː, eɪ, oʊ, uː, aʊ/. Because ea and oo are digraphs, they are not called long vowels today. Under French influence, the letter u was replaced with ou (or final ow), so it is no longer considered a long vowel either. Thus the so-called "long vowels" of Modern English are those vowels written with the help of a silent e.