Ace the toefl essay part 16

Because the main verb was progressive, the auxiliary verb we added must be progressive, as well.. Also, we changed the auxiliary verb was from the active sentence to were in the passive

Change DO to S.

The class Bring down main verb—change to v3 The class _ _taught

Add auxiliary verb If there is already an auxiliary verb, we bring it down, too, before we add a new one

Aux./ add/ v3(perfect form)

The classes were being (added) taught.

Because the main verb was progressive, the auxiliary verb we added

must be progressive, as well Also, we changed the auxiliary verb was from the active sentence to were in the passive sentence, because the

aux-iliary verb must agree in number with the subject of the sentence The

subject classes is plural, so the auxiliary must be plural.

Change the subject of the active sentence to the object of the

preposi-tion by in the passive sentence.

The classes were being taught by me

Exceptions:

It rained last night No passive

It happened No passive

Verbs as Adjectives

We mentioned the grammatical and syntactic functions of a word and how the functions change when the positioning of a word changes in a sentence Probably, the most confusing case in regard to that is the use of the verb as an adjective The third form of the verb, the perfect form, is

quite commonly used as an adjective, and it is seen in phrases and

claus-es, in the attributive and postpositional slots One must watch very

close-ly in order to ensure that he does not have a passive sentence when he thinks he has a subject, a verb, and an adjective after the linking verb, because the constructions are similar, some exactly alike If you have questions concerning the relationship and the similarity between the pas-sive and the present grammar point, refer back Be assured that memoriz-ing the verbs pays off, especially the irregular verbs, which is what we are primarily concerned with here See appendix

The mixture is shaken (Shake, shook, shaken) Usually, we can determine if a third form is an adjective two ways:

First, there is not an adverb in the structure If the sentence read The

mixture is shaken daily, then shaken would be part of the verb phrase,

because daily would be an adverb of frequency indicating how often.

The horse is ridden

Here, the logic is the same If there were (I say were, because there is not: the condition is unreal, so we use were and not was) a by phrase that

indicated passive voice or an adverb that modified the sentence, we would have definite information indicating the grammatical function of

the word ridden Therefore, it is wise to include indicators in the

construc-tions of your sentences to avoid ambiguity

The money is well spent The well-spent dollar is the best one

The car is hard-driven

The words are hard-forgotten The well-remembered man is a credit

It is a hard-fought battle

The fallen educator is a sad sight

The proudly worn battle scar is scary

The embattled factions reached a truce

The well-meant word was taken wrongly

Sentence Patterns

Causative Verb Constructions

Causative verbs are used when (1) a person influences another person to perform an action or (2) a person has something done to a thing The

three generally used causative verbs are get, have, and make.

Get = p + get + p + to + v1

Person + person (person = p)

I get Tom to write my letters

He gets Tom to write his letters

I got Tom to write my letters

I have gotten Tom to write my letters

I had gotten Tom to write my letters

I am getting Tom to write my letters

I will get Tom to write my letters

I will be getting Tom to write my letters

I will have gotten Tom to write my letters

Get = p + get + t + v3

Person + get + thing (t) + v3

I get my car fixed

I got my brakes repaired

He gets his hair cut

He is getting his hair cut

He was getting his car inspected

Ted will get his house built

They will be getting the lawn trimmed

They have gotten the leak plugged

They had gotten the door made

*He will get the cat to drink some milk

(Exception: The cat is alive)

I will have gotten him arrested

*With person + thing we can add the passive “by + noun.”

She got the house estimated by the tax man

Have = p + have + p + v1 or v-ing

I have him fix the lemonade

I am having them study

I am having my friend take notes

I will have them eat early

I have them eating early on Thursdays

I have them reading

I had him writing letters

I will have already had them sweeping for one hour by 6:00

P + have + t + v3 Person + have + thing + v3

I have the notes taken by Tom

I have my house cleaned by the service

He has his physical performed by Dr Ben

He is having his tonsils removed tomorrow by Dr Fry

He has had the panel reviewed by another agency

He will have the test administered by the captain

He will have had the procedure completed by tomorrow

He had been having the treatment performed for over a year

He will have been having his teeth cleaned for fifty minutes at 1:00

Make = p + make + p + v1

P + make + t + v1

He makes his brother clean his car

He is making his car clean (He is cleaning the car himself.)

He made his car clean

He is making the men run the track

He was making the girls sing

He had made them do pushups

He made the car stop (He physically stopped the car himself with the brake.)

The boy made the little girl scream

He made the child steal

He made the car be stolen (It was his fault.) The principal made the student be quiet

The mother made the girl apologize

Other Causative Patterns

He is forcing the employee to work

He forced the men to eat

The dictator ordered the men imprisoned

He wanted the animal slaughtered

He wanted the animals sleeping

He will force them to wait

He made them wait

He is making them study

He caused them to wait

He is causing the orders to be rescinded

He orders the insurgents drugged

He insisted the men be bound.

They were insisting they be released

They demanded to be ransomed

They demanded the men be set free

They were ordered killed

They were to be killed

The causative verb patterns are important, because logical fallacies spring up here Also, to read a complicated text, one should be familiar with the patterns

For, Since, Ago

These are used to show the relationship between an action and a time frame

Patterns:

For: S–V–for–length of time (countable time) Since: S–V–since–specific time (requires perfect aspect) Ago: S–V–length of time (countable time)

For

Length of time includes minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years

Tenses disallowed: simple present with a linking verb

I am here for two hours (colloquial only) Simple present: I exercise for two hours daily

Present progressive: I am writing for two hours daily

Simple past: I rode for one hour to get here

Past progressive: I was singing for years

Past perfect: I had worked there for a year before the accident

Past perfect progressive: I had been running for twenty minutes

Present perfect: I have been here for six months

Present perfect progressive: I have been learning for years

Simple future: I will be there for a month

Future progressive: I will be studying for the next week

Future perfect progressive: I will have been reading for twenty years

next April.

Future perfect: I will have exercised for one hour by the time you arrive

Since

Indicates the starting point/time of an action The specific time indicates time, day, date, month, and year (or time specified in a clause)

Simple present: Disallowed Present progressive: Disallowed Simple past: Disallowed

Past progressive: Disallowed Past perfect: I had worked there since May

Past perfect progressive: I had been running since 8:00

Present perfect: I have been here since 1997

Present perfect progressive: I have been learning since I was a child Simple future: Disallowed

Future progressive: Disallowed Future perfect progressive: Disallowed Future perfect: Disallowed

Ago

The adverbial ago requires that one of the verbs in the verb phrase be in

the past Time includes minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years Simple present: Disallowed

Present progressive: Disallowed Simple past: I hurt myself one day ago

Past progressive: I was reading an hour ago

Past perfect: I had worked there since May

Past perfect progressive: I had been running until the accident a year ago

Present perfect: Disallowed Present perfect progressive: Disallowed Simple future: Disallowed

Future progressive: Disallowed Future perfect progressive: Disallowed Future perfect: Disallowed

The use of since always requires the perfect aspect (time relationship).

The use of ago always requires a form of a past tense.

If you learn “embedding,” which is described in the following section, you can read almost anything This is the road to fluency in reading and writing

Embedding

Embedding is a broad term used to refer to a clause within a clause, which

we covered in part under relative clauses The relative clauses are easy to

see, because the presence of a wh- word (who, what, where, when, why [how])

indicates the probability of an additional clause in the superstructure

Further analysis is necessary to observe additional constructions that are highly common in academic settings Students particularly have problems with readings such as philosophical discourses, scientific materials, and religious writings, which often have long, complicated structures similar

to those included herein In addition, to vary sentence structure, write about literature, and present your ideas effectively and interestingly, it is necessary to know the grammatical constructions The first part,

“Syntactic Positions,” covers general positions of clauses that are subjects, IOs, and DOs in the sentence The second part, “Complements,”

renames these words in sentences that function as subjects, IOs, and DOs

Syntactic Positions

Subject

The labels are above the sentences Underlined is the complete subject

For now, just think of the important information: it’s the skeleton

A man (walking late at night) is not safe

S Aux V Adv Adv

To see (the one you love die) can hurt very deeply

S V DO Learning (to drive a car in the snow at night) confuses young people

That (we should have taken a different route) is an understatement

Saying (you would have known better) angers me

The matter (that we discussed yesterday morning) is pending

What you said (about my friends being infantile) is a lie

Where you go (after work with your friends) puzzles me

Swimming (around with a cut in shark-infested water) is really stupid

The dotted line indicates the simple subject; the underlined structure is

the complete subject, and the S indicates the simple subject if we can go

so far as to narrow it down to one word and still understand the sentence

Direct Object

S Aux V DO

I do not know what he sees in the girl down the street

I think that he is one of the lowest forms of life on this planet

He said he was going to try to find the prettiest girl to take to the dance

S V DO

I hate (that) tomorrow is the day that we will both be walking away from this

I stated to the policeman (that) going to the store was necessary for baby formula and diapers

She thought her life was taking a new turn with the money from the set-tlement

The boy wondered if God placed him here for his parents’ joy

The flagman hit the dog walking under the bridge

Tip: Look for the action verb The entity receiving the action is the

DO—usually

Indirect Objects

S V IO DO

I gave whoever he was my assistance

S V IO DO

I said to whomever the little girl had hit that they must come and report it

S V IO DO

I gave the little boy riding the bicycle my stern disapproval

S V DO IO

I said, “Don’t return here or I’ll be upset” to the persistent salesman