English grammar drills part 4 pdf

If the plural is used correctly with a count noun, write OK above the noun.. For example, they could distinguish the possessive form of the noun friend from the plural form: The use of

cheese (noncount): I love cheese (food)

Some words can serve as either a noncount noun or a count noun with a slightly different

meaning For example, the noncount noun chicken refers to chicken as a food As such, we

can-not use it with number words or in the plural However, if we use the word chicken to refer to the

living animal, then it is a count noun For example:

Exercise 1.5

All of the underlined nouns in the following sentences are in the plural Some plurals are

cor-rectly used with count nouns However, many plurals are incorcor-rectly used with noncount nouns

Draw a line through each incorrectly used noncount noun and write the corrected form above it

If the plural is used correctly with a count noun, write OK above the noun

Please be careful of the woods on the desks

1 The roads were closed because of the dense fogs

2 We had to go shopping because we were out of milks again

3 The team’s disappointments at their losses was obvious

4 During the operation, the patient needed six pints of bloods

5 The recent storms have caused us to lose powers for days on end

6 Many household products are recycled, especially papers and glasses

7 You need to allow a lot of time so that the paints will dry between coats

8 Most Americans eat pancakes and waffles with syrups

9 Most people seem to have an inborn fears of snakes

10 Many breads in the Middle East are made without yeasts

Possessive nouns

Virtually all languages have some way of indicating that a noun is the owner or possessor of

another noun For example, in the phrase John’s book, John is said to own or possess the book

Of course the possessive forms of nouns can signal many things besides ownership Often we use

the possessive form with inanimate nouns to indicate that something is a part or a component of

something else For example, consider the following sentence:

The computer’s screen is fl ickering

Here the possessive form tells us that the screen is a component of the computer

In this section, however, we are going to focus solely on how English forms the possessive

Before Shakespeare’s time the possessive form of nouns was spelled exactly the same as the

plural form: with an -s By Shakespeare’s time, however, writers had began to distinguish the

pos-sessive -s from the plural -s by the use of an apostrophe with the pospos-sessive: -’s For example, they

could distinguish the possessive form of the noun friend from the plural form:

The use of the possessive apostrophe after the -s to indicate that a noun is both plural and

possessive did not become standard until the beginning of the nineteenth century So today we

have a three-way distinction between the three -s forms: the plural -s, the singular possessive -’s,

and the plural possessive -s’ For example:

Singular possessive: friend’s

Plural possessive: friends’

While it is correct to call -s’ the “plural possessive,” it is a little confusing to think of the -’s as

just the “singular possessive.” The problem with this defi nition arises with the possessive forms

of irregular nouns that become plural by changing their vowels rather than by adding a plural -s

For example:

Noun Possessive Plural Possessive

man man’s men men’s woman woman’s women women’s child child’s children children’s

As you can see, -’s is used with these plural possessive nouns, not -s’ This is not really an

excep-tion to the general rule At fi rst glance, we might think we should use -s’ with these irregular

that the -s’ with these nouns is what makes them plural What actually makes them plural is the

change in their vowels or ending We must use ’s because we are only making these nouns (which

already happen to be plural nouns) into possessive nouns

A much better way to think of plural and possessive -s is given below There are three types

of -s endings:

Plural only Possessive only Plural possessive

-s -’s -s’

The -’s tells us is that whatever noun the -’s is attached to is now possessive If -’s is attached to a

singular noun (as is usually the case), then that noun has become a singular possessive noun If

-’s is attached to an irregular plural noun, then that noun has becomes a plural possessive noun.

This analysis will help you to always use the right form for both regular and irregular nouns

One of the nice things about writing the different forms of the possessive -’s is that the

spell-ing is completely regular For example, here is how we spell the possessive forms of irregular

nouns that change f to v in the plural:

Possessive: wolf’s (note that the f does not change to v)

Plural possessive: wolves’

Here is how we spell the possessives of nouns ending in consonant  y:

Plural possessive: spies’

Notice that the plural spies is spelled differently than the possessive singular spy’s In the singular

possessive, the y does not change to i and we do not add -es We just add the normal -’s.

Here is how we spell the possessive nouns ending in vowel  y:

Plural possessive: boys’

Remember, the y is part of the spelling of the vowel and therefore nothing happens to it.

Exercise 1.6

Fill in the following chart with all of the forms for each noun

Singular Singular possessive Plural only Plural possessive

wife wife’s wives wives’

1 dog

2 horse

3 tree

4 lady

5 fox

6 tooth

7 play

8 worker

9 shelf

10 man

11 studio

12 place

13 fl y

14 child

15 woman

The pronunciation of the possessive -’s (whether singular or plural) or -s’ is governed by the same rules that govern the pronunciation of the plural -s:

/s/ if the noun ends in a voiceless consonant sound (except a sibilant) /z/ if the noun ends in a vowel or voiced consonant sound (except a sibilant) /ǝz/ if the noun ends in a sibilant sound

Here are some examples:

/s/: cat–cat’s, cats’; Kate–Kate’s, Kates’; Smith–Smith’s, Smiths’

Exercise 1.7

Write the plural possessive form of each noun in the /s/, /z/, or /ǝz/ column depending on the

pronunciation of the plural -s The fi rst question is done as an example.

Singular

beach beaches’

1 face

2 bridge

3 fox

4 chief

5 boy

6 navy

7 daughter

8 carriage

9 play

10 college

The term adjective can be used broadly for any word that modifi es a noun In this book,

how-ever, we will divide all noun modifi ers into three smaller groups and address each group in a

separate chapter In this chapter we will cover what we will call “true” adjectives In Chapter 3 we

will cover articles, and in Chapter 4 we will cover all post-noun modifi ers, modifi ers that follow

the nouns they modify

“True” adjectives

True adjectives have three distinctive features:

1 They immediately precede the nouns that they modify

2 They have comparative and superlative forms

3 They can be used as predicate adjectives

To see the difference between a true adjective and another common type of noun modifi er,

let us compare the true adjective slow and the article the Both slow and the are adjectives in the

broad sense because they both modify nouns For example, they modify the noun cars in the

fol-lowing sentences:

Slow cars should stay in the right lane.

The cars in the left lane passed me.

However, as a true adjective, slow has three characteristics that the does not have:

1 It always immediately precedes the noun being modifi ed We see in the preceding exam-ple sentences that both slow and the can be used immediately in front of the noun they modify

But what happens if we use both slow and the to modify the same noun? We can say this:

The slow cars moved into the right lane.

But we cannot say this:

X Slow the cars moved into the right lane.

There is a strict left-to-right rule that says that articles (and other types of noun modifi ers as well)

must precede true adjectives when they both modify the same noun In other words, no other noun

modifi er can come between a true noun and the noun it modifi es

2 It has comparative and superlative forms We can use slow in the comparative and super-lative forms, but there are no comparative and supersuper-lative forms for the article the:

Base form Comparative form Superlative form

slow slower slowest

3 It can be used as a predicate adjective The term predicate adjective refers to adjectives

that function as predicates of linking verbs (These terms are explained in detail in Chapter 10.)

For now, let’s just look at some examples of predicate adjectives:

The Tower of London is ancient.

The children are quiet.

Our dinner is ready.

The verb be is by far the most common linking verb The predicate adjective in linking verb

sentences is used to give information about the subject In the three example sentences, ancient

gives information about the Tower of London, quiet gives information about the children, and

ready gives information about our dinner.

We can use slow as a predicate adjective, but we cannot use the:

The clock in the hall is slow.

X The clock in the hall is the.

Exercise 2.1

Here are three exercises in one Following are pairs of noun modifi ers; one member of the pair

is a true adjective, and one is not Fill in the blanks to see (1) which adjective always immediately