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1.
Grammar References
2. Grammatical Short-Cuts
(a) How to match 3rd
person nouns and present-tense verbs correctly.
(b) How to identify the 3rd
person singular and get the present tense verb form correct using
a Putonghua short-cut.
(c) Which article to use?
1.
Grammar References
Title:
A University Course in English Grammar.
Authors:
Angela Downing and
Philip Locke.
Publisher: New
York: Prentice-Hall. 1992.
Available in
Chung Chi College Library: call number PE 1112.D68 1992.
Title: Collins
CoBuild English Grammar.
Publisher:
London: Collins, 1990.
Available in
Chung Chi College Library: call number PE1112.H817 1998.
Title: Longman
English Grammar.
Author: L. G. Alexander
Publisher: Harlow (UK) etc:
Longman.1988.
Available in
Chung Chi College Library: call number PE 1112.A42.
Title: The
grammar book: an ESL / EFL Teacher's course.
Authors:
Marianne Celce-Murcia,
Diane Larsen-Freeman; with Howard Williams.
Publisher:
Boston, MA: Heinle &
Heinle, c1999 (2nd edition).
Available in
Chung Chi College Library: call number PE1128. A2 C39 1999.
2. Grammatical Short-Cuts
(a)
How to match 3rd person nouns and present-tense
verbs correctly.
In present-tense clauses and
sentences, both nouns and verbs often end in s. This is confusing
because:
(i) (most of) the nouns
are 3rd person plural (exceptions
include singular nouns ending in
-ness eg kindness, gentleness etc.)
(ii) all of the verbs
are 3rd person singular.
So, if the noun-subject
ends in s, the present-tense verb usually does NOT end in s!
DOUBLE-CHECK
by highlighting every verb and finding its noun-subject.
(b) How to identify the 3rd
person singular and get the present tense verb form correct using a
Putonghua short-cut.
To
identify a 3rd person singular subject, ask yourself: could
I translate this noun-subject into Putonghua as ta? (First
tone, any of 3 characters Male /Female /Neuter not
tamen plural)
If the answer is yes,
the English verb form in the present
tense also ends in s.
(c) Which
article to use?
English has 3 articles, one
of which must precede a noun / noun string / noun phrase:
definite (= the),
indefinite (= a / an / any),
zero (= deliberately omitted in a minority of
cases).
(i) Use the definite
article to indicate all specific cases, even for
uncountable nouns (eg He fell into the water; she passed me
the salt; the United Kingdom, the Himalayas, the
Amazon).
Where Chinese implies or
identifies a particular referent by word order or the plural noun
suffix -men, English usually uses the definite article.
(ii) Use an indefinite
article when the referent is not specifically identified:
a
only precedes nouns or adjectives beginning with consonants;
an precedes nouns etc beginning with vowels (a, e, i, o, u) +
(silent) h.
As a rule of thumb, use an
indefinite article when the equivalent Chinese sentence would
not identify a specific referent by word order.
(iii) Use the zero article
(that is, deliberately omit) before
all
pronouns
most proper nouns
all names / titles of
people (Derek, Dr Chang, Sir, Lady, Your Excellencies)
all names of
subject-disciplines (Chinese, English, Physics etc)
most names of places (eg. Korea, Wales, Paris)
names of days, months, festive holidays, seasons
and times (but time
sequences take the definite article
eg. at the start, in the middle,
by the end)
non-specific plural countable nouns (eg.
girls want fun, citizens enjoy democracy,
books are interesting)
non-specific uncountable nouns
(always singular eg. Silk is more expensive than
cotton.) When these words
are used as descriptive adjectives instead of non-
specific uncountable nouns, they
may be preceded by articles (eg. I want a silk
shirt) or may not (eg. I prefer
cotton shirts), depending on the specificity of the
noun they qualify.
non-specific abstract and collective nouns
(eg. theory, morality, ethics, government)
most gerunds / -ing nouns (= present participles of verbs
used as nouns hearing,
seating, swimming etc)
modes of transport (by air, land, sea,
plane, bus, train, ferry, water-taxi, on foot etc)
complementary noun pairs (arm in arm,
north to south, night and day, hammer and
tongs, mother and daughter etc)
Remember, the majority
of English nouns take articles. If in doubt, put in
the
definite article for specific referents
and an indefinite article for
non-specific referents the odds will be with you!
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