Page 1 of 150 SECTION ONE PARTS OF SPEECH A “part of speech” is a term used in traditional grammar for one of the eight main categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences
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SECTION ONE
PARTS OF SPEECH
A “part of speech” is a term used in traditional grammar for
one of the eight main categories into which words are
classified according to their functions in sentences. Also
known as “word classes”, these are the building blocks of
grammar.
Every sentence you write or say in English includes a few
words that fall into the eight parts of speech. These include
nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, and interjections.
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NOUN
Nouns are naming words for people, animals, places, or ideas.
Here are some examples of nouns.
? Things: table, car, book, cup, bucket
? People: Monica, Anthony, Dominic, Daniel, Paul
? Places: Takoradi, Tamale, Navrongo, Paris, Brazil
? Animals: elephant, lion, leopard, cat, sheep
? Ideas: happiness, hope, love, joy, freedom
Examine the following sentences carefully until you feel satisfied that you can identify nouns
in most sentences.
1. Eric uses a blue pen to write letters.
2. Smith lived on a farm until a week ago when the family moved to the city.
3. Mary and her friends went to the zoo to see the elephants.
4. Her lawyers bought a new house in Tamale last month.
5. Paris is the capital of France.
What does a noun do in a sentence?
1. It acts as the subject of a sentence. Every sentence has a subject, which is a noun that
tells us what that sentence is all about. For example, Eric ate rice.
2. It acts as an object in a sentence. The object receives an action from a verb. For
example, Eric ate rice.
3. It acts as a subject complement that follows a linking verb (be, become) and modifies
the subject. For example, Eric is a teacher.
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CLASSIFICATIONS OF NOUNS
Nouns are classified according to their meaning. Therefore, nouns can be classified
into the following categories:
1. Common and Proper
2. Concrete and Abstract
3. Collective
4. Countable and Uncountable
COMMON NOUNS
A common noun is a name given in common to every person or thing of the same kind.
Hence, it is a class of entity rather than individual entity. Examples of common are waiter,
dog, girl, month, house, country, woman, city, book, doctor, etc.
PROPER NOUNS
A proper noun is a name of a particular person, place or thing. Examples of proper nouns are
Stephen, Alice, Europe, Africa, Italy, South Korea, April, Sunday, Easter, Oxford University,
Pacific Ocean, etc. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.
CONCRETE NOUNS
Nouns that can be experienced with our senses (things that can be seen, touched, smelled,
heard or tasted) are called concrete nouns. Examples of concrete nouns are table, monkey,
dog, tune, flower, sky, train, etc.
ABSTRACT NOUNS
A noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions–things that cannot be seen, touched,
smelled, heard or tasted is known as abstract noun. Examples of abstract nouns are courage,
love, hate, belief, sympathy, loyalty, dream, kindness, faith, trust, thought, knowledge, etc.
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COLLECTIVE NOUNS
These are nouns which stand for a group or collection of people or things. Examples of
collective nouns are audience, committee, crew, family, team, jury, staff, crowd, mob, flock,
herd, army, a gang, a bevy of ladies, a banquet of flowers, etc.
Most collective nouns can be treated as singular (the group is acting as a single unit) or
plural (the group is acting as individuals). Here are two examples to illustrate this point:
1. The jury is announcing its decision.
2. The jury are stating their opinions.
In the first sentence, the jury is acting as a single unit; everyone agreed on one
decision. In the second case, each juror is acting as an individual, are there are many
different opinions.
Let us look at the following examples.
1. The team is buying new uniforms.
2. The team are buying new uniforms.
The first sentence describes a situation where the team has held fundraising and the
team as a unit will buy and order for the uniforms. The second sentence reports that
each member of the team will buy the uniform him or herself.
Note that there are some collective nouns (such as people and police) that are only
considered as plural. Here are two examples to illustrate this point.
1. Many people never take any exercise.
2. The police are appealing to the public for any information about the missing boy.
COUNTABLE NOUNS
These are nouns that can be counted. They have singular and plural forms. Examples of
countable nuns are book, house, spoon, child, etc.
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UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
These are nouns which cannot be counted. In other words, an uncountable noun is a noun you
cannot add a number to. For instance, you can say; one book, two books, but you cannot say;
one rice, two rices. Examples of uncountable nouns are wind, milk, sugar, bread,
accommodation, luggage, information, hardware, software, homework, furniture, money,
equipment, news, knowledge, sand, water, jewellery etc.
When constructing sentences using countable and uncountable nouns, be careful with the use
of articles and quantifiers. We shall look at articles and quantifiers in the next section of this
book.
SINGULAR AND PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNS
Noun may be singular when talking about one thing, or plural, expressing more than one.
Look at the following examples.
1. One cat ? two or more cats
2. One book? two or more books
From the above examples, you can observe that the plural forms of the nouns are
formed by adding –s to their singular forms.
A. We change nouns from singular to plural by adding –s or –es at the end of
countable nouns.
SINGULAR NOUNS PLURAL NOUNS
Birds Birds
Boys Boys
Book Books
Car Cars
Pen Pens
Door Doors
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We add –es if the noun ends with one of the following letters.
SINGULAR NOUNS PLURAL NOUNS
Ending with letter –s
Bus Buses
Ending with letter -ss
Dress Dresses
Ending with letter with -x
Box Boxes
We add –s or –es to countable nouns that end with the letter ‘o’. If ‘o’ is preceded by a
consonant like Zero;
? Zero? Zeroes or Zeros
We only add ‘-s’ if ‘o’ is preceded by a vowel. For instance,
? Video? Videos
B. Nouns ending ‘Y’
If a noun ends with the letter ‘Y’ in the singular for, we look at the letter that precedes it.
If it is a vowel, we only add ‘-s’.
Look at these examples:
1. Tray? trays
2. Toy? toys
If it is a consonant, we change or convert the letter ‘Y’ into letter ‘I’ and then add ‘-es’.
Look at these examples;
1. Family? Families
2. Lady? Ladies
3. Baby? Babies
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C. Nouns ending in f/fe
Nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel plus the letter(s) f/fe, we change f/fe to ves.
Let us look the following examples.
1. Knife? Knives
2. Thief? Thieves
3. Leaf? Leaves
4. Wife? Wives
Some nouns have the endings f and fe, but we only need to add the suffix –s to their plural
forms. Let us look at following cases.
1. Spoof? Spoofs
2. Chief? Chiefs
3. Roof? Roofs
4. Dwarf? Dwarfs
D. Irregular nouns do not follow any rule.
These nouns change completely
1. Foot? Feet
2. Goose? Geese
3. Mouse? Mice
4. Man? Men
5. Tooth? Teeth
6. Child? Children
7. Woman? Women
8. Stadium? Stadia
9. Formula? Formulae
10. Vertebra ? Vertebrae
Some nouns also remain the same in both singular and plural. Examples of such nouns are
sheep, antelope, deer, and many more.
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POSSESSIVE NOUNS
Common and proper nouns can sometimes be further classified as possessive nouns. A
possessive noun shows ownership, or that something is part of something else. They always
use an apostrophe (‘).
RULES FOR FORMING POSSESSIVE FORMS OF NOUNS
1. If a noun is singular and does not end in “s”, add an apostrophe plus the letter “s” to
the noun. Let us look at these examples.
? My neighbour’s car
? The child’s cloth
? Peter’s book
2. If a noun is singular and ends in “s”, if adding an extra “s” would make the word
seem awkward or hard to pronounce, add only an apostrophe and be guided by the
way you will pronounce the word. Look at these examples.
? James’ car
? Jesus’ teachings
? Jones’ house
3. If a noun is plural and does not end in “s”, add an apostrophe plus the letter “s”.
Let us look at the examples below.
? Men’s clothes
? Women’s chores
? Children’s stories
Let us examine the following phrases.
? The girl’s clothes
? The girls’ clothes
1. Which of the phrases refers to one girl?
2. Which phrase refers to several girls?
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3. How will you explain them?
If the apostrophe follows a singular form of the noun, it indicates that one person
owns the item. However, if it follows the plural from of the noun, it shows that
several people own the item.
Let us examine the following sentence.
? The wedding is going to be held at my friends’ house.
Look at the noun with the apostrophe. It was already plural before the apostrophe was
added, so it means the house is owned by two or more friends.
Do not use two or more possessives together in a sentence. For instance,
? Abigail’s friend’s father’s car is for sale.
The above sentence contains three possessives. Only one is acceptable in English Language.
A better form of the sentence would look like this;
? The car belonging to the father of Abigail’s friend is for sale.
Examine the following sentence. Then, create a rule to explain what you found.
? Efua and Esi’s mother arrived yesterday.
You should have written something like this: “When two or more people “own” something
together, you use an apostrophe only with the owner who is mentioned last.” If both nouns
are possessive, each one owns a separate thing.
? Efua’s and Esi’s houses are on the same street.
However, it is acceptable to use the possessive form for common expressions referring to
time and measurement, such as;
? Two months’ vacation
? One hour’s time
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VERB
A verb is a word that expresses action or state of being. Verb is one of the main parts of
every sentence.
Let us look at the function of a verb in a sentence.
1. Kofi to school every day.
2. Kofi goes to school every day.
In the first group of words, there is no verb. Therefore, we cannot call it a sentence because it
does not express a complete thought. In the second example, there is a verb “goes”, thus it is
a sentence.
TYPES OF VERBS
There are different kinds of verbs in English Language. These are:
1. Action verbs and State verbs
2. Main verbs, Auxiliary verbs, and Modals
3. Regular verbs and Irregular verbs
4. Transitive verbs and Intransitive verbs
5. Finite verbs and Non-finite verbs
ACTION VERBS
Most verbs in English Language are action verbs. Action verbs express physical activities or
processes. Examples of action verbs are run, jump, play, come, sing, go, catch, drive, etc. The
following sentences express physical action that you can actually observe.
1. The boy kicked the ball.
2. The thief jumped over the wall.
3. The police arrested the armed robbers.
4. My father watches film every night.
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STATE VERBS
State verb is a verb that expresses a situation or a mental state. They indicate that somebody
or something exists. State verbs are sometimes called linking verbs or copular verbs.
Examples of state verbs are be, have, think, like, seem, look, taste, appear, become, smell,
remain, believe, own, exist, know, understand, etc.
Here are examples of state verbs used in sentences with the state verbs in bold.
1. I am here.
2. She is sick.
3. They were afraid.
4. Ama looks beautiful.
5. Eric seemed happy enough this morning.
Let us examine the following sentences.
1. I am sick.
2. I am a teacher.
In the first sentence, the verb “is” describes the writer's state of being and the adjective “sick”
describes how the writer is feeling. This is one way of using such verbs.
In the second sentence, the noun “teacher” and the pronoun “I” refer to the same person, and
the sentence means that “I” is equal to a “teacher”. Simply, the writer's state of being is as a
teacher.
The verb “to be” is manifested in eight forms such as be, is, am, are, was, were, been, and
being.
There are some verbs in English that can be used either as action verbs or state verbs (copular
verbs). Examples of such copular verbs are get, smell, sound, have, taste, look, etc.
Let us examine carefully the following sentences.
1. The cake tastes good.
(It is used as linking verb)
2. Martha tasted the cake carefully.
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(It is used as an action verb)
3. The investigator looked intently at the documentary evidence.
(It is used as action verb)
4. The shirt looks nice.
(It is used as linking verb)
Note that state verbs (copular verbs) do not take progressive aspect, only simple tense.
Here are some common mistakes we make.
Incorrect: I have been knowing him for many years.
Correct: I have known him for many years.
Incorrect: I am being tired now
Correct: I am tired now.
Incorrect: I am having a red car.
Correct: I have a red car.
AUXILIARY VERBS AND MAIN VERBS
A verb can sometimes be made up of more than one word, called verb phrase. Within a verb
phrase, the word that expresses action is called the main verb and other verb which gives
grammatical information, for example about tense, which is not given by the main verb of a
sentence is called auxiliary verb (or helping verb).
Auxiliary verbs consist of primary verbs (be, have, do) and modal verbs (can, will, must,
may, et cetera). Auxiliary verbs combine with main verbs to form aspect, voice, and
emphasis.
Let us look at the sentences below.
1. Essien will leave for Germany tomorrow.
2. Lucy is working at Accra.
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In the sentences above, the first verb in each pair (will, is) is the auxiliary verb, whilst leave
and working are the main verbs.
Let us examine the following sentences.
1. I have eaten just now.
2. I have a car.
Both of these sentences use the verb “have”. But in the first sentence, the verb “have” is used
as a helping verb whereas the second sentence uses the verb “have” as the main verb (that
is, I own a car).
*Auxiliary verbs combine with main verbs to form aspect
Look at the following examples.
1. Paul is reading his book. (Progressive aspect)
2. Paul has eaten the food. (Perfective aspect)
*Auxiliary verbs used to form passive voice
Look at the following examples.
1. She was beaten by her mother.
2. Her car was driven off by her husband.
*Auxiliary verbs used to give emphasis to the main verb
Look at the following examples.
1. I do like her long hair.
2. She does mind what you say.
3. I do love her–after all, she is my wife.
4. He did try to ride the bicycle.
MODAL VERBS
Modal verbs express the speaker’s or writer’s attitude towards the action or state given by the
verb. Simply, a modal verb is a helping verb that expresses ability, possibility, permission or
obligation. Modal verbs are always paired with at a one other verb. Modal verb must be used
in a verb phrase. A verb phrase is more than one verb used in a sentence together to express
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an action. Examples of modal verbs are can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should,
must, et cetera.
Here are examples of modal verbs used in sentences with the modal verbs in bold.
1. Mahama can swim.
2. Susanna could sing if she tried.
3. You must attend our wedding.
4. I would wear something more formal, if I were you.
5. I may see you tomorrow before I leave.
6. I might go along to the party later.
7. My father will leave for Tamale tomorrow.
Let us look at the following features of modal verbs
1. They are always followed by the “infinitive without to”.
It is grammatically wrong to say or write, for instance, I can to swim.
2. They are the same for all pronouns.
Incorrect: She cans swim. Correct: She can swim.
3. They take direct negative and question forms.
Incorrect: Do you can help me install this software?
Correct: Can you help me install this software?
4. They never combine with another modal verb.
Incorrect: She will can here come next week.
Correct: She can come here next week or she will be able to come here next week.
? Note that there are two modal verbs where “to” is the second part of the verb, not part
of the infinitive (ought to do, and have to do).
USAGE OF MODAL VERBS
Usage of Can
1. It is used to express an ability or lack of ability in the present or future.
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a) He can drive a car.
b) Kofi cannot read aloud.
2. It is used to give permission (or not giving permission).
a) You can buy the food now.
b) You cannot smoke cigarette here.
3. It is used to express possibility.
a) Smoking can cause cancer.
b) You can get skin diseases from bathing in dirty water.
Usage of Could
1. It is used to express an ability or lack of ability in the past.
a) Mr Buadi could read without glasses last year.
b) I could not sleep last night.
2. It is used to express possibility, especially slight or uncertain possibility.
a) The head teacher could arrive anytime now.
b) Anything could happen in the next half hour.
3. It is used in making requests (always in question form).
a) Could you read the text again please?
b) Could we have a lunch please?
4. It is also used in making suggestion (only in the affirmatives).
a) We could sing in the evening.
b) We could have dinner one day.
Usage of May
1. It is used for asking permission.
a) May I use your book?
b) Hello, may I speak to Kennedy Ofori, please?
2. It is used to express strong possibility in the present or future.
a) I may see you tomorrow before I leave.
b) Kofi may not attend lectures today.
Usage of Might
1. It is used to express possibility in the present or future.
a) It might happen again.
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b) I might go along to the party later.
c) She might not accept the offer.
2. It is also used to express possibility in the past (followed by “have done”)
a) My uncle might have missed his train.
One more thing…………..
In informal contexts, we tend to use “can” instead of the appropriate modal verb. Although
this is acceptable, it is always best to use the correct modal verb in formal situations and in
examination.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Request
a) Informal situation: Can you open the door?
b) Formal situation: Could you open the door?
2. Asking for permission
a) Can I use your phone? The correct modal verb is “May”
b) May I use your phone?
3. Suggestion
a) We can meet next week. The correct modal verb is “Could”
b) We could meet next week.
4. Possibility
a) It can happen again. The better modal verbs are may, might, and could.
b) It may/might/could happen again.
Usage of Will
1. Formulation of the future simple with all pronouns.
a) Efua will leave for Italy on Monday.
b) They will probably employ us.
2. Making a request with the pronoun “You” in a question form (informal
alternative to “could”).
a) Will you turn the television on please?
b) Will you help me please?
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Usage of Shall
1. Formulation of the future simple with the pronouns “I” and “We”.
a) I cannot afford a lawyer so I shall defend myself.
b) If we have some time, we shall come and see you.
2. Offering to do something with the pronoun “I” in a question form.
a) Shall I pick the children up from school today?
b) You look cold. Shall I close this window?
3. Making a suggestion or asking for a suggestion with the pronoun we in a
question form.
a) When shall we meet tonight?
b) It looks nice outside. Shall we go for a walk?
4. It is also used to express future aspect in official documents and contract.
a) The police shall give out road safety booklets to students.
b) The tenants shall pay for all damages caused to the property.
Usage of Would
1. It used to formulate conditional two and conditional three sentences.
a) If we had time, we would come and see you.
b) If we had had time, we would have come and seen you.
2. It is used to express habit in the past (similar to “used to”)
a) When I lived in the city, I would walk everywhere.
b) When he was at school, he would play the guitar every day.
3. It is used for making request with the pronoun you in a question form
(alternative to “could”).
a) Would you turn the television down please?
b) Would you help me please?
4. It is also used for making polite expressions.
a) Would you like to borrow this book?
b) Would you like some cake?
c) What would you prefer?
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REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS
In English Language, only verbs can have tenses. Regular verbs form their past
simple and past participle forms by adding the suffix ‘ed’. Here are examples of
regular verbs and their simple past and past participle forms.
BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
Walk Walked Walked
Dance Danced Painted
Paint Painted Painted
Cook Cooked Cooked
Play Played Played
Irregular verbs form their past simple and past participle forms in different ways.
There are mainly three types of irregular verbs. These are:
1. Verbs in which all the three forms are the same. Here are some examples to
illustrate this point.
Base Form Past Simple Past Participle
Put Put Put
Cut Cut Cut
Burst Burst Burst
Set Set Set
Cast Cast Cast
2. Verbs in which two of the three forms are the same. Here are examples to illustrate
this point.
Base Form Past Simple Past Participle
Sit Sat Sat
Run Ran Run
3. Verbs in which all the three forms are different. Look at the following examples.
Base Form Past Simple Past Participle
Drink Drank Drunk
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See Saw Seen
Sing Sang Sung
Write Wrote Written
Speak Spoke Spoken
Some verbs can be both regular and irregular. Here are examples of such verbs.
Base Form Past Simple Past Participle
Burn (Irregular) Burnt Burnt
Burn (Regular) Burned Burned
Dream (Irregular) Dreamt Dreamt
Dream (Regular) Dreamed Dreamed
Learn (Irregular) Leant Learnt
Learn (Regular) Learned Learned
Leap (Irregular) Leapt Leapt
Leap (Regular) Leaped Leaped
Smell (Irregular) Smelt Smelt
Smell (Regular) Smelled Smelled
Spoil (Irregular) Spoilt Spilt
Spoil (Regular) Spoiled Spoiled
Spill (Irregular) Spilt Spilt
Spill (Regular) Spilled Spilled
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TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. He dances.
This is a complete sentence. There is a subject in the sentence “he” and a verb
“dances”, but this verb does not require object to express a complete thought.
2. She took.
This statement does not express a complete thought because the verb “took” requires an
object to make a sentence meaningful. Let us add the object “book” to the second case.
She took the book. I hope this example expresses a complete thought now. Therefore, the
verb “dance” is an intransitive verb whereas the verb “take” (its past simple is “took”) is a
transitive verb.
*Transitive verb is an action verb that requires an object to complete its meaning in a
sentence. An object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb in a
sentence.
Here are examples of transitive verbs used in sentences with the transitive verbs in bold.
1. Dominic broke the jar.
2. He cleans the house every day.
3. Anaba kicked the ball.
4. My mother made a cake.
5. I gave the book to Portia.
6. Kofi hit his friend with the hammer.
*Intransitive verb is a verb that does not require an object to complete its meaning in a
sentence.
Here are examples of intransitive verbs used in sentences with the intransitives in bold.
1. I sleep.
2. She smiles.
3. They walk.
4. She runs.
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5. I sing.
The verbs “sleep”, “smiles”, “walk”, “runs”, and “sing” are intransitive verbs. However,
intransitive verbs can be followed by a complement. Complement is a word or a phrase that
completes the meaning of a verb in a sentence. These complements are usually adjectives,
prepositional phrases, or adverbs.
Here are examples of complements used in sentences with the complements in bold.
1. I sleep at midnight.
2. She smiles beautifully.
3. They walk to school every day.
4. She runs for two miles every morning.
5. I sing marvellously.
There are a lot of verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive. Examples of such verbs
are “eat”, “read”, “clap”, “drive”, “answer”, et cetera.
Let us look at these sentences (with the objects in bold and the verbs in italic).
Transitive Intransitive
Tony eats breakfast late. Tony eats before going to
school.
Essien reads fairy tale
every evening.
Essien reads every day.
She drives a sports car. She drives to work.
He answers the questions
with gladness.
He answers well.
I clapped my hands because
I admired her performance.
The audience clapped
politely.
Note: Do not leave out the object after a transitive verb. For instance, “The boy climbed and
then escaped” What did he climb?
The correct sentence may be like this: The boy climbed over the wall and then escaped
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FINITE VERB
Every sentence must have a finite verb to be complete. A finite verb can be a transitive,
intransitive, or linking verb. A finite verb agrees with the subject as it changes with the
person (first, second, and third person) and number (singular or plural). This makes finite
verb similar to main verb. A finite verb has present and past forms, which means finite verb
has tenses.
Here are examples of finite verbs used in sentences with the finite verbs in bold.
1. I drive a car. (1st person/singular, present tense)
2. You eat. (2nd person/singular, present tense)
3. He drives a car. (3rd person/singular, present tense)
4. We ate the food. (1st person/plural, past tense)
5. They sang yesterday. (3rd person/plural, past tense)
6. She sings so marvellously. (3rd person/singular, present tense)
*A finite verb can be used alone as the main verb of a sentence, or it can be a verb
phrase comprising a helping verb or an auxiliary verb and a main verb.
Here are four examples to illustrate this point (with the finite verbs in bold).
1. She stared at me.
2. He sings every morning.
3. They are clapping their hands.
4. He was shooting arrows into the air.
NON-FINITE VERB
Non-finite verbs do not change to reflect person, number (singular or plural), or tense. This
means, unlike a finite verb, it does not have to agree with the subject in person or number.
They cannot serve as the main verb in an independent clause.
There are three non-finite forms of a verb. These forms are; infinitives (with to followed by a
main verb or without to), gerund, and participles.
Let us look at the meaning and usage of each type of non-finite verb.
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*GERUND
A gerund is a form of a verb that ends in ‘–ing’ and functions as a noun in a sentence. Gerunds
act like nouns and can serve as subjects or objects of sentences. They can be created using
action or helping verbs.
Here are examples of gerunds used in sentences with the gerunds in bold.
1. I like swimming.
2. Having read the book once before makes me more prepared for the examination.
3. Bonzo likes eating mangoes.
4. Being loved can make someone feel safe.
5. Jogging is a good form of exercise.
6. Sailing is my favourite sport.
7. I like running.
8. Dominic enjoys singing.
9. He has given up smoking.
*Some of the verbs that can be followed by gerund (doing) are:
1. Stop doing
2. Suggest doing
3. Avoid doing
4. Be used to
5. Look forward to
6. Committed to
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. I try to avoid going shopping on Fridays.
2. I suggested putting the matter to the committee.
3. I could not stop laughing when my friend fell.
4. She was not used to speaking French.
5. The government must commit itself to improving health care.
6. I always look forward to seeing you.
*One rule that always holds is that prepositions can be followed by gerund (doing). For
instance:
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1. In helping others, I am indirectly helping myself.
2. In refusing (also means because he refused) to work abroad, he missed an excellent
job opportunity.
3. Before leaving he said goodbye to each of them.
*PARTICIPLE
A participle is a form of a verb that is used in a sentence to modify a noun, noun phrase, verb,
verb phrase, and then plays a role similar to an adjective. There are two types of participles in
English Language. The two types of participles are traditionally called the present participle
and the past participle.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE
Even though they look exactly the same, gerunds and present participles do different things.
As we have just learned, gerund acts as nouns. Present participles, on the hand, acts similarly
to an adjective. The present participle can also be used with the helping verb “to be” to form
the present and past progressive aspect.
Here are examples of present participles used in sentences with the present participles in
bold.
Present participles acting like adjectives
1. The sleeping girl over there is my sister.
1. We are running short of cooking oil.
2. I am still searching for my missing wallet.
3. It was a disturbing dream I had last night.
4. The film was very disappointing.
5. It was a tiring day at the workplace.
Present particles used with the auxiliary verb “to be” to form present and past
progressive
1. Faustina was sleeping.
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2. I am washing my car.
3. They are singing.
4. The man is smoking wee in the bush.
5. Kaku and Bonzo were sleeping while I was working.
PAST PARTICIPLE
Past participle can be used with the helping verb ‘to have’ and the simple past of have (had) to
form present and past perfective aspects respectively.
Look at the following.
1. I have already washed the car.
2. The children have just eaten the chicken.
3. She has recently written two books.
4. He had written that story book, before he came ill.
Past participles can also be used as an adjective. For instance,
1. He ate a boiled egg.
2. The freshly picked tomatoes look delicious.
3. The streets were filled with drunken revellers on New Year Eve.
*INFINITIVES
Infinitive is the base form of a verb. In English when we talk about infinitive we are usually
referring to the simple infinitive, which is the most common. As infinitive has no tense, it
does not in itself indicate the time of the action that it refers to. The simple infinitive has two
forms: the to–infinitive (to + base), and the infinitive without to (base). There is no
difference in meaning between them; some sentences require a to-infinitive while others call
for a bare infinitive (infinitive without to). For instance,
1. I ought to inform her. (Infinitive with to)
2. I had better inform her. (Infinitive without to)
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‘TO–INFINITIVE’
The ‘to–infinitive’ is used in many sentence constructions, often expressing the purpose of
something or someone’s opinion about something (also called the ‘infinitive with to’).
The following expressions and verbs are followed by ‘to do’.
1. Want to do
2. Cannot afford to do
3. Need to do
4. *Decide to do (This can also take ‘that clause’)
5. It is time to do
6. Would like to do
Let us look at the following sentences (the ‘infinitive with to’ are in bold).
1. I hope to see you next week.
2. She managed to reach the top of the hill.
3. I invited the new student to have dinner with me.
4. What inspired you to write this poem?
5. I dare you to tell the truth.
6. You cannot pursue people to buy small cars.
7. He taught his students to appreciate poetry.
8. I asked her to show me the book.
9. To read is good for the mind.
10. I do not have time to eat.
11. To talk with your mouth full is not a nice thing to do.
12. She was instructed to sweep the room.
There are some verbs that can be followed by either ‘to do’ or ‘doing’ Examples of
such verbs are:
1. Like/love/prefer to do or doing
2. Start/begin/continue to do or doing
3. Bother to do or doing
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Let us look at the following sentences.
1. I prefer watching rugby to playing it. (prefer doing)
2. I would prefer to discuss this issue with my father. (prefer to do)
3. If he continues drinking like that, I will have to carry him home. (continue doing)
4. It was said that as the boat went down the band continued to play. (continue to do)
‘THE INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO’ (BARE INFINITIVE)
*We use this after all modal verbs. For instance,
1. I cannot speak to you.
2. He should give her some money.
3. I might stay another night in the hotel.
4. They must leave before dawn.
There are two modal verbs where ‘to’ is the second part of the verbs, but it is not part
of the infinitive. These modal verbs are:
1. Ought to do
2. Have to do
*We use the ‘infinitive without to’ after these verbs and expressions.
1. Let (someone) do
2. Make (someone) do
3. Why not do?
4. Had better do?
5. Would rather do
Note that the verb help can take both forms; help (someone) do or to do.
Let us form sentences with these verbs and expressions (‘infinitives without to’ are in bold).
1. Let us go to the beach tonight.
2. You made me come with you.
3. Why not ask him now?
4. Why leave before the end of the game?
5. He had better ask him not to come.
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6. I would rather stay here with you.
7. I helped Monica to do her homework.
*We can use either the ‘infinitive without to’ or the present participle (–ing) form after
the object of verbs such as hear, see, notice, watch, et cetera. The ‘infinitive without to’
often emphasises the whole action or event which someone hears or sees. The present
participle (–ing) usually emphasises an action or event which is in progress or not yet
completed.
Let us examine the following sentences.
1. He saw her drive a car with a young man in the passenger seat.
(The speaker observed the whole action)
2. I watched the woman come out of the house and get into her car.
(I observed the whole action)
3. I heard my roommate singing in the shower.
(I heard part of the song. It could be that you did not hear the start of the song)
4. Martha heard him coming up the stairs towards her room, and felt scared.
(The action was in progress, happening, but not completed)
5. Eric heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it.
(Eric could tell as and when the doorbell began to ring because he heard it from the beginning
to the end)
*After can or could with one of these verbs (hear, see, watch, notice et cetera), we always use
the ing form, not the infinitive. For instance:
? I can hear people talking. They must be in the next room.
Usage of Had Better and Would Rather
? We use ‘had better’ to refer to the present or the future, to talk about actions we
think people should do or which are desirable in a specific situation. In other
words, it is used to give advice or tell people what to do. The verb form is always
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had, not have. We sometimes shorten it to (‘d) better (also had better) in informal
situations. It is followed by the ‘infinitive without to’.
? On the other, the verbal idiom ‘would rather’ is used to show that you prefer to have
or do one thing more than another.
Let us look at the following examples.
1. I would rather stay here with you. (I would prefer to……)
2. We had better leave early if we do not want to get stuck in traffic. (Suggestion)
3. It is six o’clock. I had better go now before the traffic gets too bad.
We do not use ‘had better’ when we talk about preferences. We use ‘would rather’, or ‘would
prefer’. For instance,
1. I had better get a taxi. The buses are slow. (It is a good idea, better, or advisable to
get a taxi)
2. I would rather get a taxi. I do not like buses. (I prefer to get a taxi)
Usage of ‘Used To’ and ‘Be Used To’
‘Used to’ describes a habit or a fact in the past, which is no longer true.
Look at the following examples.
1. He used to love cats but one attacked him and he does not like them anymore.
2. She used to live in Tamale before she moved to this city.
3. I used to play tennis twice a week. Now, I only play occasionally.
‘Be used to something’ is an expression which indicates your attitude towards something (or
to be familiar with something). A synonym is ‘be accustomed to’.
Look at the following sentences.
Eventually you will become used to the smells of the laboratory.
I am not used to spicy food. It upsets my stomach.
He comes from a country with hot weather. He is used to high temperature.
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Sometimes, your attitude towards something may change, in which case, we can use the
expression ‘get used to’. For instance,
1. I could not eat spicy food, but I have got used to it.
2. He comes from a country with hot weather. He will have to get used to this cold
climate.
MOODS OF A VERB
Verb has mood that indicate the attitude as conveyed in a sentence by a speaker or writer.
Moods are different manners in which a verb may be used to express an action. There are
three main moods in English that show how a speaker feels about the topic discussed in the
sentence. The three foremost moods include:
1. Indicative mood
2. Imperative mood
3. Subjunctive mood
INDICATIVE MOOD
The indicative mood of a verb is the most frequently used in simple statements of facts and in
questions.
Here are examples of indicative mood.
1. The meal is delicious.
2. He drives to work every working day.
3. Have you done your homework?
IMPERATIVE MOOD
The imperative mood of a verb is used to express a command which be positive or negative,
or express requests.
Here are examples of imperative mood.
1. Leave me alone!
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2. Do not be late tomorrow!
3. Let us go out to dinner tonight.
*Imperative mood may also be used to express instruction without the use of exclamation
mark (!) to make it less emphatic.
Let us look at the following examples.
1. Put it over there.
2. Get it done today.
3. Close the door behind you.
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
The subjunctive mood of a verb expresses what is imagined or wished, a conditional
situation, or statement contrary to fact. The past subjunctive form uses the past tense of the
verb ‘be’ which is ‘were’, not ‘was’. Remember that in using the past subjunctive, ‘were’ is
used for all persons.
Look at the following examples.
1. I wish I were a pilot.
2. You behaved as though you were the richest in the world.
3. Would she go supposing she were invited?
*We use the past subjunctive mood when making hypothetical statements (imagined or
suggested but not necessarily real or true) beginning with the conjunction ‘if’.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. If he were alive, he would not be happy with what you are doing. (This is a wish, so
‘were’ is used in the subjective mood)
2. If I were you, I would not do a stupid thing that. (When a statement like is contrary to
fact, we use the subjunctive ‘were’)
3. If she were here now, she would join in the singing. (A supposition that requires the
use of ‘were’ in the subjunctive mood)
*In formal English, expressions and verbs that suggest that something is recommended or
important take the present subjunctive form. The present subjunctive has the same form
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as the base form of the verb (infinitive without to), and it is the same in both present and
past situations. Examples of expressions that need this form are to be, crucial, desirable,
important, necessary, vital, essential, et cetera. Verbs that also take this form are
recommend, insist, suggest, demand, propose, et cetera. Subjunctive mood is perhaps the
‘trickiest’ mood of all. Additionally, using it can sound strange, even though the grammar is
correct.
Look at the following sentences.
1. The doctor recommends that my mother see a dentist. (Not mother sees)
2. The doctor recommended that my mother see a dentist. (Same for the past)
3. They insist that the Secretary change the date of the weekly meeting.
4. We suggest that he spend more time in the seminary.
5. I suggest she attend the meeting.
6. It is crucial that the new leadership make the right decisions for the election
campaign.
7. It is desirable that the person joining our company be skilled at cooking.
8. It is important that the coach be placed before next month.
9. It is necessary that she receive a fair hearing.
10. It is necessary that they be warned of the risks.
11. It was vital that they be warned of the risks.
: In American English, the present subjunctive is used more frequently than in British
English. In British English we tend to use the modal verb ‘SHOULD’ and the preposition
FOR plus the ‘infinitive with to’ (in both present and past situations) as an alternative
structure for the expressions of importance. For instance:
1. It is necessary that they should be warned of the risks.
2. It is necessary for them to be warned of the risks.
3. The doctor recommends that my mother should see the dentist.
*In informal English, you may hear the normal tenses used, and ‘that’ can be dropped. For
instance, it is necessary they are warned
of the risks.
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PRONOUN
Pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence to avoid repetition of a noun.
Let us look at the following sentence.
? Mary is tired. Mary wants to rest.
Repetition
? Now, we can write it in this way; ‘Mary is tired. She wants to rest’. The word ‘she’ is a
pronoun which has been used in place of the noun ‘Mary’ to avoid repetition of the
noun ‘Mary’.
In other words, pronouns replace nouns (the names of people, places, and things) that have
been already mentioned, or that the speaker or writer assumes are understood by the listener
or the reader. For instance, ‘I want you to read this again’. The words ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘this’ are
pronouns. In this simple sentence, it is not necessary to actually see the nouns (speaker,
reader and text) because the speaker’s meaning is obvious.
TYPES OF PRONOUNS
Basically, pronouns are categorised into many groups depending on their meaning and how
they are used in a sentence. These groups are:
1. Personal pronouns
2. Reflexive pronouns
3. Indefinite pronouns
4. Interrogative pronouns
5. Relative pronouns
6. Emphatic pronouns
7. Reciprocal pronouns
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8. Demonstrative pronouns
9. Possessive pronouns
PERSONAL PRONOUN
Personal pronouns are used frequently in English Language to make writing and speaking
more interesting. Personal pronouns refer to people with one exception: it. The third person
pronoun it although included in personal pronouns does not refer to a person; it usually refers
to an animal or a thing. The personal pronouns are best explained by the table that follows.
SUBJECT
(SINGULAR)
OBJECT
(SINGULAR)
SUBJECT
(PLURAL)
OBJECT
(PLURAL)
I (First person) Me We Us
You (Second person) You You You
He (Third person) Him They Them
She (Third person) Her They Them
It (Third person) It They Them
What is shown in the table indicates that personal pronouns have person, number, gender
and case. The personal pronoun must be of the same number, gender, person, and in the same
case as the noun for which it represents.
Number
The grammar term ‘number’ means singular or plural. The pronoun must agree in number
with the noun that it replaces. If the noun is in singular number, the pronoun must also be in
the singular number, or if it is of the plural number, the pronoun must be of the plural
number.
Look at the following examples.
1. Singular: The girl is playing with her puppet. She has a glove puppet.
2. Plural: The girls are playing with their puppets. They have puppets of various
colours.
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Person
Pronouns have three grammatical persons as shown in the table above. The pronouns ‘I and
We’ are first person pronouns and refer to the speaker or writer. The pronoun ‘You’ is classed
as second person (the person who is spoken to). The pronouns ‘He’, ‘She’, ‘It’ and ‘They’ are
called third person (a person or a thing which is spoken about).
Look at the following sentences.
1. First person: I eat rice every morning.
2. Second person: You look nice.
3. Third person: It is a rare species of fish.
: If the pronoun ‘You’ is used to refer to one person, then it is considered as singular.
On the other hand, if the pronoun ‘You’ is used to refer to a group of people, it is considered
plural.
Gender
The grammatical term ‘gender’ refers to nouns and pronouns. Nouns which name a male
person or an animal are called masculine. Nouns which name a female person or an animal
are called feminine. Also, a noun is said to be in the neuter gender refers to an inanimate
object. Examples of neuter gender are table, car, pen, house, et cetera. Common gender talks
about nouns that are used for both males and females.
Look at the following tables.
Masculine Gender
(Human Being)
Feminine Gender
(Human Being)
Common Gender
Actor Actress Baby
Bachelor Spinster Bird
Boy Girl Cattle
Brother Sister Child
Hero Heroine Companion
Nephew Niece Comrade
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Waiter Waitress Cousin
Wizard Witch Dancer
Poet Poetess Deer
Master Mistress Friend
Usher Usherette Guest
Host Hostess Infant
Conductor Conductress Owner
Author Authoress Parent
Bridegroom Bride Guardian
Prince Princess Passenger
Sir Madam Pig
Son Daughter President
Landlord Landlady Relative
Manager Manageress Sheep
Fiancé Fiancée Singer
Uncle Aunt Student
Husband Wife Swan
King Queen Teacher
god goddess Lecturer
Masculine Gender (Animal) Feminine Gender (Animal)
Buck (Rabbit) Doe (Rabbit)
Stallion (Horse) Mare (Horse)
Ram (Sheep) Ewe (Sheep)
Boar (Pig) Sow (Pig)
Cock (Chicken) Hen (Chicken)
Drake (Duck) Duck (Duck)
Gander (Goose) Goose (Goose)
Fox (Fox) Vixen (Fox)
Lion (Lion) Lioness (Lion)
Tiger (Tiger) Tigress (Tiger)
Bull (Cattle) Cow (Cattle)
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The pronoun must agree with the noun in gender that it represents. If the noun is in the
feminine gender, the pronoun too must be in the feminine gender. Likewise, if the noun is in
the masculine gender, the pronoun be in the masculine gender. The pronouns ‘he, him, and
his’ show masculine gender, whilst ‘she, her and hers’ refer to feminine gender. The
pronoun ‘it’ refers to animals, plants and inanimate objects which are singular. In English
Language, plural personal pronoun ‘they’ is used to replace plural nouns, regardless of
gender. The personal pronouns ‘we’ and ‘you’ also refer to masculine and feminine gender
(exclusively people).
Look at the following sentences.
1. Masculine: Veronica has a boyfriend. He often buys clothes for her.
2. Feminine: Eric’s sister loves to eat pizza. She eats it almost every day.
3. Neuter: My father has an old kitchen table. It has a broken leg.
Case
Case shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun with another word in a sentence. There are
three cases in English grammar. These are:
Subjective/Nominative case: I, you, he, she, it, we and they
Objective case: me, you, him, her, it, us, and them
Possessive case: my, your, his, her, its, our, and their
If a pronoun is used as the subject of a sentence, a pronoun in the subjective case is used; if a
pronoun is used as an object in a sentence – direct object, indirect object, and object of
preposition – a pronoun in the objective case is used; and if a pronoun is used to show
ownership, a pronoun in the possessive case is used.
Subjective and Objective cases
A noun does not change its form whether it is used in the subjective case or the objective
case.
Look at the following sentences.
1. The teacher called the students.
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(The noun ‘teacher’ is the subject of the sentence.)
2. The students called the teacher.
(The noun teacher is the direct object in the sentence.)
A pronoun has different forms when it is in the subjective case or the objective case.
Look at the following sentences.
1. I bought a bouquet of flowers for my wife.
(The subject is ‘I’, the direct object is ‘bouquet of flowers’, and the indirect object is
‘wife’.)
2. My wife bought a bouquet of flowers for me.
(The subject is ‘wife’, the direct object is ‘bouquet of flowers’, and the indirect object
is ‘me’.)
The nouns bouquet of flowers and wife do not change; only the pronoun changes. The
subjective pronoun I becomes the objective pronoun me when it is used as an object.
Errors occur when pronouns in the wrong cases are used.
Incorrect: Buadi and me went to the market in the morning.
(Buadi and me are used in the subjective case, but me is an objective case pronoun.
The subjective case pronoun I should be used instead.)
Correct: Buadi and I went to the market in the morning.
An easy way to select the correct subjective and objective cases is to the test the pronoun
alone. For instance, you can test the first sentence by reading it, using only the pronoun.
? Me went to the market in the morning.
You know that does not sound right. It should read; I went to the market in the morning.
Let us carefully examine the following sentence.
? Kwame Nkrumah gave Monica and I three letters to post.
This sentence may look and sound correct, but it contains a basic grammar mistake that a lot
of people make. You can find the error by imaging that Kwame Nkrumah gave the three
letters to only one person.
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? Kwame Nkrumah gave I three letters to post.
Now, you can clearly notice that this is not correct. The objective case me is the correct form,
and the sentence should be corrected like this;
? Kwame Nkrumah gave Monica and me three letters to post.
The Possessive case
Pronouns in the possessive case show possession (ownership) of someone or something.
They are personal pronouns in the forms of possessive adjectives, also called possessive
determiners–first person: my, our; second person: your; third person: his, her, its, their. A
possessive adjective comes before a noun that it modifies in the sentence. A possessive
adjective is not a possessive pronoun.
Let look at the following sentences.
Incorrect: The dog is mine pet.
(The word mine is a possessive pronoun and it is incorrectly used before a noun.)
Correct: The dog is mine.
(The possessive pronoun mine is correctly used in place of the noun pet.)
Correct: The dog is my pet.
(The possessive adjective ‘my’ is correctly used before a noun.)
POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
The possessive pronoun is the possessive form of the personal pronoun, which we use in a
sentence in place of a noun to express possession or ownership. A possessive pronoun is able
to stand on its own as a subject or an object and is not followed by a noun.
The possessive pronouns are best explained by the table that follows.
Singular Possessive Pronouns Plural Possessive Pronouns
Mine Ours
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Yours Yours
His Theirs
Hers Theirs
Its Theirs
Here are examples of possessive pronouns used in sentences with the possessive pronouns in
bold.
1. Martha will not come to school today. This book is his.
2. The small bag is mine. That big bag is yours.
3. The kennel is its.
4. She claimed that the money on the floor was hers.
5. I think she is a relation of theirs.
6. He is a cousin of ours.
Possessive pronouns are used either as subject or object
Look at the following sentences.
1. Yours has weeds all over. (Subject)
2. His is red but hers is white. (Subject)
3. Your shirt looks like mine. (Object)
4. She likes theirs but dislikes ours. (Object)
An apostrophe (‘) is not used with a possessive pronoun that expresses ownership
Look at the following sentences.
1. This slice of bread is yours.
(Not: This slice of bread is your’s)
2. Rebecca and I both have red hair but hers is lighter than mine.
(Not: Rebecca and I both have red hair but her’s is lighter than mine.
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DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
We use demonstrative pronouns to replace a noun or a noun phrase to show whether
something or more things are near or far in space or time. There are four demonstrative
pronouns used as follow:
? This: It is used to replace a singular noun (person or thing) that is around or nearby to
the speaker.
? That: It is used to replace a singular noun that is distant from the speaker.
? These: It is used to replace a plural noun that is around or nearby to the speaker.
? Those: It is used to replace a plural noun that is distant from the speaker.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. We are not bringing these along with us. (Used to show plural noun)
2. Is this your book? (Used to show singular noun)
3. This table is bigger than that. (The thing is distant from the speaker)
4. I think that tree is the biggest among those in the park. (The things are distant from
the speaker)
5. These are some of the letters that I have to post tomorrow. (The things are close to the
speaker)
Demonstrative pronoun replaces noun phrase
In the following examples, the bold words in the first sentences are noun phrases, whilst the
bold words in the second sentences are demonstrative pronouns replacing the nouns phrases.
1. The new pair of shoes is too tight and it hurts a bit. This is too tight and it hurts a bit.
2. The German cars are very expensive. Those are very expensive.
3. The ingredients will be added to the soup. These will be added to soup.
4. What are the five bright objects hovering in the sky? What are those?
Demonstrative Pronoun can be a subject or an object in a sentence
Look at the following examples.
1. This is the oldest University in Ghana. (Subject)
2. I like this. Could you buy it for me, please? (Object)
3. That has to be the best dinner we have had for a long time. (Subject)
4. She kept talking about herself and nobody liked that. (Object)
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Demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective
A word is not a demonstrative pronoun if it comes a noun. Such a word is in fact a
demonstrative adjective which precedes a noun and acts as a modifier of the noun. It should
not be confused with a demonstrative pronoun which does not modify a noun. Unlike the
demonstrative adjective, a demonstrative pronoun replaces a noun and stands on its own in a
sentence.
Let us look at the following examples.
1. Demonstrative pronoun: This is the most expensive car in the world.
Demonstrative adjective: This car is the most expensive in the world.
2. Demonstrative pronoun: That is not a bird; it is a kite.
Demonstrative adjective: That kite looks like a bird.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Relative pronoun is a pronoun which is used in relation to a noun and modifies (give more
information about) the same noun. Examples of relative pronouns are who, whom, that,
which, whichever, whatever, whosoever, whoever, whose, et cetera. In other words,
relative pronouns are pronouns that join relative clauses and the relative sentences.
Look at the following example.
1. He is the man, who sings songs.
The word who is a relative pronoun that modifies (tell more about the noun (man).
The same pronoun joins the sentence He is the man to a clause sings songs.
Here are examples of relative pronouns used in sentences with the relative pronouns in bold.
1. The girl whose brother is in my class is very nice.
2. The man who is dressed like a doctor is a visitor.
3. I saw the boy from whom you borrowed the pen.
4. These are the principles which we all believe in.
5. I know the dog that bit my cat.
6. This is the lady whom you asked to see.
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Relative pronouns refer back to a noun, noun phrase in the main clause. We refer to these
nouns and noun phrases as antecedents. The nouns girl, man, boy, principles, dog, and lady
are antecedents in the sentences. An antecedent is a word or phrase which a pronoun
refers back to.
The part of the sentence that contains the relative pronoun is called relative clause.
Look at the following sentence.
1. She told us to leave which was a shock.
We use who and whom to refer to people. The relative pronoun which refers to animals and
things, not people. We use that for both people and things. There is a difference in using
which and who. After which, we can use a verb, a pronoun, or a noun. After who, we usually
use a verb.
The relative pronoun whose is used to show possession or relationship for both people and
things.
Look at the following examples.
1. This is the gentleman whose children I teach every evening.
2. They meet in an old house whose basement has been converted into a chapel.
The relative pronoun whom is used to make a statement about human beings. It is used in
place of who when it is the object of a verb or when it comes after a preposition or is an
object of a preposition. According to the rules of formal grammar, who forms the subjective
case, while whom forms the objective case and so should be used in object position when
using it in a sentence. In modern English there are many speakers who rarely use whom at
all, employing who in all contexts; today this use is broadly accepted in Standard English.
Look at the following examples.
1. The man whom they caught was handed to the police. (Object of a verb)
2. The woman to whom you should speak is the head teacher.(Object of a
preposition/after a preposition)
For places, time, and reasons; in formal English, use which with a preposition.
Let us look at the following examples.
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1. Informal: the library where we meet
2. Formal: the library at where we meet
3. Informal: the when/that we met
4. Formal: the day on which we met
5. Informal: the reason why I was at the library
6. Formal: the reason that/at which I was at the library
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
There are only five main interrogative pronouns, all of whom begin with –WH: who, whom,
whose, which, and what. They are only used to ask questions and not for any other
grammatical constructions. However, the five pronouns can also be used in sentences. As
long as they are not used in questions, they are not interrogative pronouns.
Out of the five interrogative pronouns, only who and whom refer to people whilst which and
what are used for things. These pronouns do not have gender. The other pronouns considered
as interrogative pronouns are whatever, whomever, whoever, and whichever. There are
other words beginning with –WH and we should not confused them with the interrogative
pronouns as they are not. The words are when, where, and why. Unlike other pronouns, the
interrogative pronoun does not have an antecedent as the antecedent is unknown. We use the
interrogative pronouns when we need to know something (something that we have no
knowledge of).
Using the five interrogative pronouns
Here are examples of interrogative pronouns used in sentences with the interrogative
pronouns in bold.
1. Who is going of preach next week?
2. Who is that man in a cardigan and a bowler hat?
3. Whom will you ask about the latest cricket score?
4. Whom are you staring at?
5. What is the cat chewing?
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6. What is she grumbling about?
7. Which of the snake is the most poisonous?
8. Which of your parents do you feel closer to?
9. Whose is this bag?
10. Whose are these shoes?
Interrogative pronouns have three cases
The interrogative pronouns can be used in the subjective, possessive, and objective cases.
Look at the following examples.
Subjective case
1. Who took my book?
2. Which of the desserts did you have?
3. What made you insult your friend?
Possessive case
What and which do not have a possessive form.
2. Whose car was stolen yesterday?
Objective case
1. Whom did you borrow that huge amount of money from?
2. Which animal are you are aiming your gun at?
3. What are you thinking of?
‘Who’ may be used as an object
Who are you complaining about the whole day? (Object of the preposition about)
‘Whom’ cannot be used as a subject
3. Incorrect: Whom came here in the morning?
Correct: Who came here in the morning?
‘Whom’ can only be used as an object
Whom did he hit with the hammer? (Object of the verb hit)
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Preposition can be placed in front of the interrogative pronoun ‘whom’
1. To whom do you wish to speak?
2. With whom are you going on the trip?
Avoid repeating the preposition
Wrong: To whom do you wish to speak to?
Wrong: With whom are going on the trip with?
Note that the interrogative pronoun what is used to ask a general question whereas the
interrogative pronoun which is used to ask a specific question.
Look at the following examples.
1. What do you want to eat? (Many options)
2. Which do you want to eat? Rice or pizza? (limited options)
3. Which party would you prefer to go to – Daniel’s or Eric’s?
4. Which of these jackets do you prefer?
5. Which of the desserts did you have?
6. Which of your parents do you feel closer to?
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
When the subject of a sentence is a personal pronoun, a reflexive pronoun refers back to the
subject. The reflexive pronoun acts as object, not as subject. We use reflexive pronouns to
show that the subject of the sentence is the same as the object with the subject acting on itself
as expressed by the verb in the sentence.
There are altogether eight reflexive pronouns and none of these is used as the subject of a
sentence. Each personal pronoun has a corresponding reflexive pronoun which is formed by
adding –self to the singular personal pronoun and –selves to the plural personal pronoun. The
reflexive pronouns are best explained by the table that follows.
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PERSONAL
PRONOUNS
(SINGULAR)
REFLEXIVE
PRONOUNS
(SINGULAR)
PERSONAL
PRONOUNS
(PLURAL)
REFLEXIVE
PRONOUNS
(PLURAL)
First person First person
I Myself We Ourselves
Second person Second person
You Yourself You Yourselves
Third person Third person
He Himself They Themselves
She Herself They Themselves
It Itself They Themselves
Look at the following sentences.
1. She locked herself in a room.
2. They considered themselves the happiest people of the world.
3. He prepared himself for the test.
4. One of the dogs spent hours licking itself.
5. You often talk to yourself and nobody know what you talk about.
6. We promised ourselves a good holiday this year.
7. They spent some time familiarising themselves with the new workplace.
8. I have bought myself a new coat.
The subject and the objects are the same person. The antecedent subject pronoun comes first
and the reflexive pronoun refers to it. If we do not use the reflexive pronoun, the meaning
changes as shown by this examples.
1. She baked herself a birthday cake.
2. She baked her a birthday cake.
(The second sentence means she baked a birthday cake for somebody else.)
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Note that the word oneself is also a reflexive pronoun
Look at the following examples.
1. One has to learn to control oneself.
2. One should not expect others to behave in the same way as oneself.
EMPHATIC PRONOUNS
The emphatic pronouns use the same pronouns as the reflexive pronouns, that is, personal
pronouns with singular –self or plural –selves added at the end (myself, yourself, himself,
herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, yourselves, and themselves). An emphatic pronoun
differs from a reflexive pronoun in its function which is to add emphasis to the subject,
whereas the reflexive pronoun is used to show that the object of an action is the same as
the subject that performs the action. The emphatic pronoun is not a required part of a
sentence. Its removal will not affect the meaning of the sentence.
The emphatic pronoun comes after the noun or antecedent as it is known. Occasionally, the
emphatic pronoun may appear at the end of the sentence.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. I myself did it without help from anybody.
(The emphatic pronoun myself refers to the subject I and gives it emphasis to indicate
it was I who did it)
Removal of an emphatic pronoun does not affect the meaning of a sentence
Look at the following examples.
1. She herself cooked the dinner.
She cooked the dinner.
2. He himself admitted that it was wrong.
He admitted that it was wrong.
Emphatic pronoun commonly comes after the pronoun it refers to
Look at the following examples.
1. I myself can look after the whole place.
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2. You yourself will have to answer for your action.
3. The children themselves bought a bouquet of flowers for their mother.
4. He himself repaired the machine.
5. They themselves had no knowledge of what was happening.
Emphatic pronoun is not always used to emphasise noun
Look at the following examples.
1. Why the facts themselves were not used as evidence?
2. Asante Kotoko felt that the uneven field itself was to blame for their humiliating
defeat.
Emphatic pronoun appears at the end of a sentence
Look at the following examples.
1. I can look after the whole place myself.
2. She wrote the novel herself.
3. The children caught the big snake themselves.
RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
The reciprocal pronouns are used to express a relationship in which the same thing is done by
each of two parties towards the other or more parties towards others. Simply, a reciprocal
pronoun is used if two or more subjects act in the same manner towards each other or one
another. For instance, if ‘A’ is talking to ‘B’, and ‘B’ is also talking to ‘A’ we say ‘A and B’
are talking to each other. There are only two reciprocal pronouns in English Language:
each other and one another.
The reciprocal pronouns refer mostly to people, but they can also be applied to animals or
things. Each other is usually used when writing or speaking about two people or things. For
more than two people or things, one another is generally used, but it is not a rule that must
be strictly followed. A reciprocal pronoun is used to shorten a long sentence by not repeating
the same action done by two or more people.
Here are examples of reciprocal pronouns used in sentences with the reciprocal pronouns in
bold.
1. Two girls pushed each other.
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2. Comfort and Anthony love each other.
3. The people in the party greeted one another.
4. The balls on the snooker table collided with one another.
5. My friends were always criticising one another.
6. The twin brothers often argue with each other.
7. The dogs chased one another on the field.
Reciprocal pronouns in the possessive case
Look at the following examples.
1. My parents whispered in each other’s ears.
2. The monkeys are seen scratching one another’s heads.
3. Bonzo and I often visit each other’s houses.
4. When the two groups of delegates met, they started shaking one another’s hands.
INDEFINITE PRONOUN
An indefinite pronoun replaces a noun without referring to any person or thing in particular.
It is a group of pronouns that are used when the noun is unknown or for our convenience.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Is anybody there?
(Here, the question uses an indefinite pronoun anybody because the person asking does not
want to know if a definite person is there; a person such as his uncle, friend or Matthew. He
just wants to know if a person is there.)
2. Someone is knocking the door.
(Someone is an indefinite pronoun and we use it because we are not referring to any
particular person such as our parents, a friend or Joseph who is knocking the door.)
3. Something is burning.
(The noun is unknown. We do not know what thing is burning over there, so we use an
indefinite pronoun something.)
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Most indefinite pronouns are either or plural with a few of them that can be both singular and
plural. Singular indefinite pronoun subjects take singular verbs and plural indefinite pronoun
subjects take plural verbs. Examples of singular indefinite pronouns are any, anything, no
one, nothing, everyone, everybody, everything, each, nobody, either, neither, another, et
cetera. The indefinite pronouns such as several, both, some, many, few, are plural.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Nobody wants to listen to my ghost stories.
2. Anyone is welcome to help wash my luxury car.
3. Is everything all right?
4. Something in the cupboard smells odd.
5. Everyone is speaking but no one is listening.
6. Everybody is waiting to hear the good news.
Either and neither
These two pronouns are also used as singular.
Look at the following examples.
1. The police think either of the suspects was involved in the crime.
2. Neither of them wants a divorce for the sake of their children.
3. She begs her friends for forgiveness, neither of them forgives her.
Other singular indefinite pronouns
Look at the following examples.
1. Each of the companies supports a local charity.
2. Little is known about her whereabouts.
3. One has to know when to keep quiet and listen.
4. I will buy this bicycle; the other is more expensive.
5. Much of what we know about his mysterious disappearance is false.
6. This is his daughter and there is another at home.
Plural indefinite pronouns
Look at the following examples.
1. They have two grown children, both of whom live abroad.
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2. There are a few cakes left over from the party.
3. Several of my friends are learning Biology at University for Development Studies in
Tamale.
4. One of the escaped prisoners was recaptured while others were still at large.
5. Many have been rescued and the search for others will continue.
Indefinite pronouns that are both singular and plural
Look at the following examples.
1. All we know is that the rumours about her are not true.
2. All were cheering loudly for their team.
3. None of my uncles is/are as skinny as my grandfather.
4. If such is the plan, we have to start preparing straightaway.
5. If such are their positions, it is unlikely they will reach an agreement.
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ADJECTIVE
An adjective is a word that modifiers or describes a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives are
usually placed before the noun or pronoun, or sometimes they can come after it. Articles (the,
a, an) are sometimes classified as adjectives. As modifiers of nouns, adjectives give us some
information about the nouns such as size, shape, colour, age, where the nouns come from,
what material they are made of and for what purpose they are used for. The following
sentences show the adjectives in bold.
Examples:
1. It is a rotten meat. (Observation)
2. It is a beautiful dress. (Opinion)
3. It is a small cat from Africa. (Size)
4. It is a rectangular field. (Shape)
5. It is an ancient fort. (Age)
6. It is a black sheep. (Colour)
7. It is a Chinese car. (Origin)
8. It is a plastic chair. (Material)
9. It is a sports car. (Purpose)
TYPES OF ADJECTIVES
Here are the different types of adjectives: descriptive adjectives, adjectives of quantity,
demonstrative adjectives, and possessive adjectives. Among them, descriptive adjectives
are probably the most common.
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DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES
Remember that adjectives modify or describe only nouns and not verbs. Descriptive
adjectives are the most numerous of the different types of adjectives. These adjectives
describe nouns that refer to action, state, or quality.
Look at the following examples.
1. A handsome boy won the competition.
2. He bought an expensive car.
3. She gave me a red rose.
4. The fat man helped the boys.
5. A beautiful girl is dancing in the room.
6. He running a small business.
7. They gave us a delicious food.
ADJECTIVE OF QUANTITY
An adjective of quantity tells us the number (how many) or amount (how much) of a noun.
But it does not say exactly how many or how much.
Look at the following examples.
1. She bought three mangoes in the morning.
2. He does not have enough money.
3. There is a little rice in the kitchen.
4. There are some novels in the library.
5. We have much wine for the guests.
6. Rachel was at the party with her many admirers.
DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVE
There are four words that are used as demonstrative adjectives. These are this, that, these,
and those. We use this and that with nouns to show the nouns are singular (this/that book)
and these and those with nouns to show they are plural (these/those cars).
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Look at the following examples.
1. This gentleman is very handsome and kind.
2. That pig has a curly tail.
3. These books are too heavy for me to carry.
4. Those monkeys are noisy.
Demonstrative adjectives should not be confused with demonstrative adjectives. Whether
they are demonstrative adjectives or demonstrative pronouns depends on how they are used
in a sentence. One way to distinguish between them is that demonstrative pronouns are not
used before a noun. Instead, they are used by themselves in place of a noun.
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
A possessive adjective, also called a possessive determiner, expresses possession of a noun
by someone or something by modifying the noun. Possessive adjectives are the same as
possessive pronouns. All possessive adjectives are listed in the following table.
Singular possessive adjective Plural possessive adjectives
My Our
Your Your
His Their
Her Their
Its Their
Here are examples of possessive adjectives used in sentences with the possessive adjectives
in bold.
1. She failed her examination.
2. Its skin is dry and rough.
3. This must be your missing wallet.
4. I spent my afternoon reading a novel.
5. He gave them their coats.
6. Our grandfathers were highly qualified teachers.
7. His father is my senior lecturer.
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COMPARISION OF ADJECTIVES
Adjectives have three forms which can use to compare two or more nouns. The three forms
of adjectives are positive, comparative, and superlative. The positive form is used when
comparing two equal persons or things, and the comparative and superlative forms are used
when comparing two or more unequal nouns.
The positive form
When we use the positive form of adjective to make comparison, we use the expressions:
as……as or not as…..as
Look at the following examples.
1. The red car is nice.
2. The red car is as nice as the blue car.
3. Peter is tall.
4. Peter is not as tall as Fred.
The comparative form
We use adjectives to describe a noun. We can also use adjectives to compare two nouns in
terms of size, length, quality and others. The comparative form is used to compare two
unequal persons or things. In using the comparative form of adjective to describe how one
person or thing is when compared to another person or thing, we add the suffix –er to the end
of the adjective words (nicer, bigger, smarter) and the word than after the comparative
adjective (nicer than, bigger than, smarter than).
Look at the following examples.
1. Joel is taller than Samuel.
2. Our fingers are longer than our toes.
3. His head is bigger than my head.
Not all adjectives can end with the suffix –er. For some adjectives, we use the word more in
front of them (careful-more careful; beautiful-more beautiful, difficult-more difficult).
When using the word more, we also use the word than to follow the comparative adjective
(more beautiful than; more difficult than).
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Look at the following examples.
1. He is more skilful at drawing pictures than his sister.
2. Those little monkeys are more active than the old ones.
3. My father appeared more cheerful than my mother at my wedding.
Do not use ‘more’ and ‘er’ together for an adjective when making comparison.
The superlative form
We use the superlative adjective when we compare three or more nouns. It is formed by
adding the suffix –est to the end of the adjective or adding the word most in front of it. The
word ‘the’ has to precede the superlative adjective.
Look at the following examples.
1. My father is the oldest person in the family.
2. She has the prettiest face in the class.
3. James is the most talkative person in the community.
4. It is a small chair but the most comfortable chair in the house.
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES
Any adjective that forms its comparative and superlative using the suffixes –er and –est
respectively, are called regular adjectives. Adjectives that do not use the suffixes –er and –
est to form their comparative and superlative forms respectively, are also called irregular
adjectives. Suffix is a letter or a group of letters added at the end of a word to make a new
word. The suffix ness is added to the end of the word smooth to form a new word
smoothness.
The following table shows adjectives that are regular.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
Big Bigger Biggest
Brave Braver Bravest
Bright Brighter Brightest
Busy Busier Busiest
Clean Cleaner Cleanest
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Clear Clearer Clearest
Cold Colder Coldest
Cool Cooler Coolest
Dark Darker Darkest
Dear Dearer Dearest
Dirty Dirtier Dirtiest
Dry Drier Driest
Easy Easier Easiest
Fair fairer Fairest
Fast Faster Fastest
Great Greater Greatest
Happy Happier Happiest
Hard Harder Hardest
healthy Healthier Healthiest
High Higher Highest
Heavy Heavier Heaviest
Hot Hotter Hottest
Large Larger Largest
Late Later Latest
Lazy Lazier Laziest
Kind Kinder Kindest
Light Lighter Lightest
Low Lower Lowest
Lucky Luckier Luckiest
Merry Merrier Merriest
Near Nearer Nearest
New Newer Newest
Noisy Noisier Noisiest
Old Older Oldest
Poor Poorer Poorest
Proud Prouder Proudest
Quick Quicker Quickest
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Rich Richer Richest
Safe Safer Safest
The following table shows adjectives that are irregular.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
Many More Most
Good Better Best
Well Better Best
Bad Worse Worst
Much More Most
Brilliant More brilliant Most brilliant
Careful More careful Most careful
Beautiful More beautiful Most beautiful
Comfortable More comfortable Most comfortable
Dangerous More dangerous Most dangerous
Delightful More delightful Most delightful
Foolish More foolish Most foolish
Intelligent More intelligent Most intelligent
The following adjectives are also regular adjectives but they use the suffixes r and st to
form their comparative and superlative forms respectively.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
Fine Finer Finest
Wise Wiser Wisest
ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
It often happens that two adjectives or several adjectives are used to describe a noun. With
more than one adjective in a row, there is usually a fixed order in which you put those
adjectives.
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The following shows the categories of adjectives in the correct order in which they are used
to describe a noun.
DETERMINER
We usually begin a sentence of this nature with a determiner. The determiner can be an
article (a, an, the), a demonstrative adjective (this, that, these, those), possessive adjective
(my, your, his, her, its, our, their), or a number.
OBSERVATION/OPINION
It describes what you think about the noun. It order includes beautiful, expensive, ugly, dirty,
sweet, worthless, nice, et cetera.
SIZE
It talks about how big or small a person or a thing is. It includes big, small, large, huge, short,
thick, little, et cetera.
AGE
It describes how old or young a person or a thing is. It includes aged, elderly, new, 4-year
old, senior, junior, young, et cetera.
SHAPE
It includes circular, flat, oblong, oval, round, square, rectangular, et cetera.
COLOUR
It includes blue, red, yellow, black, et cetera.
ORIGIN/LOCATION
This tells us where the noun comes from. It also includes Ghanaian, African, English, French,
Chinese, et cetera.
MATERIAL
Examples of materials are plastic, wooden, bronze, gold, silk, cotton, silver, et cetera.
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PURPOSE
This describes what the noun is used for. It can be a noun (garden tool) or verb (used car)
acting as an adjective.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Incorrect: I have Italian new expensive three plastic chairs.
Correct: I have three expensive new Italian plastic chairs.
2. Incorrect: Joshua owns expensive two German sports blue car.
Correct: Joshua owns two expensive blue German sports car.
3. Incorrect: I saw a Ghanaian young well-dressed lady in the morning.
Correct: I saw a well-dressed young Ghanaian lady in the morning.
COORDINATE ADJECTIVE
These are adjectives that are equally important in describing a noun, without one of them
outranking the others, and they are separated by a comma or commas. To know if the
adjectives used in sentences are coordinate so that a comma is used between them, reverse the
order of the adjectives or use the word and to separate the two adjectives. If they make sense,
they are coordinate adjectives and a comma is required.
Look at the following examples.
1. She is a highly qualified, experienced nurse.
2. She is an experienced, highly qualified nurse.
3. She is a highly qualified and experienced nurse.
(These sentences make sense, which means both adjectives are of equal importance
(coordinate) and a comma is used.
4. The weather forecasters warned of another day of hot, windy conditions across the
northern part of Ghana.
Three or more coordinate adjectives
When there are three or more coordinate adjectives, separate the adjectives with commas and
the last two adjectives with the word and.
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Look at the following example.
1. He bought a yellow, brown and red cap.
2. There were round, square and oval birthday cakes at the market.
PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES
There is a class of adjectives that is formed from participles, both present (verb ending in –
ing) and past participles (verb ending in -ed). The past participle stated here as ending in –ed
refers to regular verbs. Irregular verbs end differently. Such adjectives are called participial
adjectives. The present participle tells us about something or someone that causes a feeling,
whilst the past participle describes the feelings and attitudes of people towards something or
someone else.
Look at the following examples.
1. Present participle: He is damaging his health through excessive smoking.
2. Past participle: He has damaged his health through excessive smoking.
3. Present participle used as adjective: Excessive smoking has a damaging effect on
his health.
4. Past participle used as adjective: His damaged health is caused by excessive
smoking.
Here are examples of participial adjectives used in sentences with the participial adjectives in
bold.
1. Her stories are interesting.
2. We are interested in her and her stories.
3. She gave a rather surprising answer.
4. I am surprised to see you here.
5. I was amazed to hear that Kwame had won the first prize.
6. Rain forests are filled with amazing creatures.
7. She made frustrated attempts to look for the size she wanted.
8. It was a frustrating experience when none of her friends listened to what she said.
9. The second paper is a written test.
10. She was chosen for her writing skill.
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11. It was an exciting match between Liverpool and Manchester City.
12. The excited fans waited for the two English teams to arrive.
ATTRIBUTIVE AND PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES
Adjectives appear in different positions in a sentence. The two positions we often encounter
are before a noun and after a noun. Adjectives that come after a noun must follow a linking
verb.
Adjective that comes before a noun is called an attributive adjective. The attributive
adjective modifies the noun that follows it. There can be more one attributive adjective
appearing side-by-side to modify the same noun.
Look at the following examples (with the attributive adjectives in bold)
1. Everyone knows a giraffe has a long neck.
2. The mob lynched an ugly old witch.
3. My father bought an expensive hotel.
4. Joyce always wears a tight dress.
5. Essien runs a well-stocked shop.
6. My old car does not have air conditioning.
Adjective that comes after a noun is called a predicative adjective. The predicative adjective
modifiers the noun that comes before it. It acts as a predicate as it completes the meaning of
the predicate in the sentence. The predicate is linked by the verb to be, which is normally a
linking verb (also called a copular verb) to the subject. The predicate adjective says
something about the subject of the sentence.
Look at the following examples (with the predicative adjective in bold).
1. The scream was loud.
2. My sister looks beautiful.
3. The problem seemed unusual.
4. The cake tastes sweet.
5. Our neighbours have always been very friendly towards us.
6. He grew bored being alone.
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7. The question sounds silly.
8. She was always very hard-working at school.
There are a lot of adjectives that can come before and after a noun, but there are some that
can only be used as attributive adjectives or as predicative adjectives. We can say ‘The red
shirt’ or ‘the shirt is red’. This indicates that the adjective red can be used as an attributive
adjective or a predicate adjective. Either way, the adjective modifies the same subject shirt.
When changing an attributive adjective to a predicate adjective, we use a linking verb which
in this example is ‘is’.
Adjectives that can be used only as attributive adjectives
There are some adjectives that can only come before a noun.
Look at the following examples.
1. A little boy came into the shop.
2. The main thing is not to worry.
3. Your elder sister is coming here today.
Using attributive adjectives as predicative adjectives will result in ungrammatical sentences.
1. Incorrect: The boy who came into the shop was little.
2. Incorrect: Your sister elder is coming here today.
Adjectives hat can be used only as predicative adjectives
There are some adjectives that can only come after a noun.
Look at the following examples.
1. She decided to climb the mountain alone.
2. I drink a lot of coffee to keep me awake.
3. The army are said to be ready for action.
4. We were glad about her success.
5. He felt suddenly afraid.
6. I felt ill so I went home.
Using predicative adjectives attributively will result in ungrammatical sentences.
1. Incorrect: Alone she decided to climb the mountain.
2. Incorrect: Awake I drink a lot of coffee to keep me.
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3. Incorrect: The ready army are said to be for action.
Attributive and predicative adjectives in the same sentence
1. The angry mob lynched an ugly old witch.
2. The beautiful lady has bought an expensive car.
3. The pretty girl is angry with her friend.
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UNIT 5
ADVERB
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb (an action), an adjective, another adverb, or a
whole sentence, but not a noun or a pronoun. The word modifies means an adverb adds or
changes the meaning of verb, adjective, another adverb, or a sentence. We can identify a lot
of adverbs by their endings. They end in –ly but not all, as some words that end in –ly are
adjectives.
Let us look at the following sentences (with the adverbs in bold.)
1. The alarm clock rang loudly. (Describing the verb rang)
2. She wore a brightly coloured dress. (Describing the adjective coloured)
3. Dominic did his homework fairly well. (Describing another adverb well)
4. Honestly, Sophia fell ill while on holiday. (Describing the whole sentence)
5. Interestingly, she comes from Brazil. (Describing the whole sentence)
TYPES OF ADVERBS
There are different kinds of adverbs in English Language. The following are some of the
common ones.
ADVERB OF MANNER
An adverb of manner tells us how the action happens. Most of adverbs of manner end in –ly
such as avidly, loudly, quickly, carefully, and others include well, hard, fast, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences (with adverbs of manner in bold).
1. The alarm clock rang loudly.
2. Dominic sings well.
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3. Benjamin reads avidly.
4. Kwame ran quickly.
ADVERB OF PLACE
An adverb of place tells where something is done or happens. Adverbs of place include here,
above, nearby, there, upstairs, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences (with adverbs of place in bold).
1. I looked everywhere for my book.
2. The helicopter was hovering above the building.
3. I have lived here for about two years.
4. He heard glass breaking and ran upstairs to see what had caused it.
ADVERB OF TIME
An adverb of time tells us when something is done or happens. It can be used at the
beginning or at the end of a sentence. Adverbs of time include eventually, weekly, now,
soon, today, yesterday, already, afterwards, immediately, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences (with the adverbs of time in bold).
1. He eventually came here.
2. Bonzo went to the gym yesterday.
3. They go out to dinner weekly.
4. He used to be a teacher, but now she works in a restaurant.
5. It will soon be impossible for foreigners to enter the country.
6. Today, people are much more concerned about their health than they were in the past.
ADVERB OF FREQUENCY
An adverb of frequency tells us how often something is done or happens. Adverbs of
frequency include again, almost, always, usually, often, rarely, seldom, nearly,
hardly, never, frequently, ever, occasionally, twice, sometimes, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences (with the adverbs of frequency in bold).
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1. She always goes to the market.
2. Anderson sometimes smokes cigarette.
3. Sometimes it is best not to say anything.
4. My aunt never calls me on my birthday.
5. We only write to each other very frequently.
6. Dede seldom reads the Bible.
7. I have already asked him twice.
8. I rarely have time to read a newspaper.
ADVERB OF DEGREE
An adverb of degree tells us the level or extent that something is done or happens. Words of
adverb of degree are quite, so, too, fairly, really, nearly, almost, much, extremely,
absolutely, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences (with the adverbs of degree in bold).
1. He writes very legibly.
2. He arrived at the airport fairly late.
3. The accident victim nearly died from her injuries.
4. It is too difficult for me to explain.
5. It was quite a difficult job.
6. This room is really hot.
FORMING ADVERBS
There are three forms of adverbs: adverb is formed by adding –ly to an adjective, adverb that
shares an identical word with an adjective, and adverb not derived from an adjective or any
other word.
*Most adverbs are formed by adding –ly to adjectives.
Look at the following examples.
Adjectives Adverbs
Slow Slowly
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Clear Clearly
Avid Avidly
Quick Quickly
Normal Normally
Interesting Interestingly
If the adjective ends in –y change it to –i before adding –ly.
Look at the following examples.
Adjectives Adverbs
Happy Happily
Lucky Luckily
Easy Easily
Lazy Lazily
If the adjective ends in –e, remove it and add –ly.
Look at the following examples.
Adjectives Adverbs
Comfortable Comfortably
Possible Possibly
Humble Humbly
*Adverbs that share identical words with an adjective: some examples of adverbs that have
the same form as adjectives and have similar meanings are far, hard, long, right, straight,
tight, wrong, fine, early, fast, late, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. I got a cheap flight at the last minute. (Adjective)
2. I got a pair of shoes cheap in the sale. (Adverb)
3. It was working fine yesterday. (Adverb)
4. I felt terrible last night but I feel fine this morning. (Adjective)
5. We do not live far from here. (Adverb)
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6. Where we live is not far from here. (Adjective)
7. He works quite hard. (Adverb)
8. He finds the work quite hard. (Adjective)
9. You have written the wrong answer. (Adjective)
10. You have written the answer wrong. (Adverb)
11. It was late at night. (Adjective)
12. We talked late into the night. (Adverb)
13. If we exercise regularly, we may live longer. (Adverb)
14. If we exercise regularly, we live a longer life. (Adjective)
*There are adverbs not derived from an adjective or any other word. Adverbs such as even,
as, how, next, now, rather, soon, so, still, then, too, never, rather, et cetera.
*Also, there are a few words ending in –ly that are not adverbs but adjectives. Examples of
such words are lovely, friendly, lonely, orderly, silly, lively, timely, et cetera. You cannot
change these words into adverbs.
Look at the following sentences.
1. There was some lively discussion at the meeting.
2. Comfort has lovely eyes.
3. She put the letters in three orderly piles.
4. He greeted us in a lovely manner.
5. I feel silly in this dress.
6. He gets lonely now that all the siblings have left home.
7. Our neighbours have always been very friendly towards us.
*The following words end in –ly, but they are both adjectives and adverbs. Examples of
such words are daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. It is a weekly magazine. (Adjective)
2. I receive this magazine weekly. (Adverb)
3. Exercise has become part of my daily routine. (Adjective)
4. My mother opens her restaurant daily except Sundays. (Adverb)
5. Most of these people are paid monthly. (Adverb)
6. The company publishes a monthly newsletter of its activities. (Adjective)
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7. We get a yearly pay increase. (Adjective)
8. Interest is paid yearly. (Adverb)
*The words hard, late, and short are both adjectives and adverbs. However, the words
hardly, lately, and shortly also exist but with completely meanings.
Let us look at their meaning.
Adverbs Meaning
Lately Recently
Hardly Certainly/Almost not
Shortly Soon
Look at the following sentences.
1. I could hardly hear her at the back. (Almost not)
2. I hardly know her. (I do not really know her)
3. I hardly watch television, apart from news and current affairs. (I do not really watch
television)
4. Kofi will be with us shortly. (Kofi will be with us soon)
5. I shall write the letter shortly. (I shall write the letter soon)
6. She has not been feeling so well lately. (She has not been feeling so well recently)
7. I have not seen him lately. (I have not seen him recently)
*A common mistake is to use an adverb after a linking verbs (also called copular verbs).
Examples of copular verbs are appear, seem, look, feel, taste, smell, be, keep, become,
remain, et cetera. These require an adjective.
Look at the following sentences.
1. My sister looks beautiful. (Not: My sister looks beautifully)
2. The cake tastes sweet. (Not: The cake tastes sweetly)
3. The problem seemed unusual. (Not: The problem seemed unusually)
4. To be a casual observer, everything might appear normal. (Not: To be a casual
observer, everything might appear normally)
5. Never in her life had she felt so happy. (Not: Never in her life had she felt so happily)
6. That chocolate smells good.
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7. I always keep quiet in the class.
Although the adjectives beautiful, sweet, unusual, normal, happy, and good are not next to
the noun or the pronoun, they describe the nouns sister, cake, problem, chocolate, and the
pronouns everything, she, I , not the verbs (looks, tastes, seemed, appear, felt, smells and
keep).
* The copular or linking verbs taste, smell, and look can only take adverbs when used as
action verbs.
*Another common mistake is using an adjective to describe a verb, another adjective or an
adverb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Incorrect: Maxwell writes good. (Adjective describing a verb)
Correct: Maxwell writes well.
2. Incorrect: Daniel sings marvellous well. (Adjective describing an adverb)
Correct: Daniel sings marvellously well.
3. Incorrect: Tasha Cobbs is a wonderful good singer. (Adjective describing another
adjective)
Correct: Tasha Cobbs is a wonderfully good singer.
*The word good is an adjective whilst the word well is usually used as an adverb.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Benjamin gave a good answer.
2. Benjamin answered the question well.
In the first sentence, we use the adjective good because it modifies a noun and tells more
about the noun answer. In the second sentence, the adverb well modifies the verb answered
and tells us how the question was answered.
However, the word well can be used as an adjective when used in relation to how someone
feels. When asked ‘how are you?’, if you want to say you are in good health, say: I am well.
If you want to say you are generally doing right, say: I am fine. In the past, it was a mistake
to say ‘I am good’. However, these days, this expression is becoming more and more
common as an alternative to ‘I am fine’.
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COMPARISON OF ADVERBS
There are three degrees of comparison in adverbs: the positive, the comparative, and the
superlative. The adverbs from their comparatives and superlatives using suffixes –er and –
est, and the words more and most. Adverbs that end in –ly use the words more and most to
form their comparatives and superlatives respectively.
The one-syllable adverbs use –er in the comparatives, and –est to form in the superlatives.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Early Earlier Earliest
Fast Faster Fastest
Hard Harder Hardest
High Higher Highest
Late Later Latest
Loud Louder Loudest
Near Nearer Nearest
Soon Sooner Soonest
Adverbs that in –ly or have three or more syllables each form the comparative with more and
the superlative with most.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Angrily More angrily More angrily
Carefully More carefully Most carefully
Quickly More quickly Most quickly
Freely More freely Most freely
Gladly More gladly Most gladly
Beautifully More beautifully Most beautifully
Sweetly More sweetly More sweetly
Some adverbs form the comparative and superlative without following any rule.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Badly Worse Worst
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Far Farther Farthest
Far Further Furthest
Little Less Least
Much/Many More Most
Well Better Best
Look at the following sentences.
1. Anthony sings better than Comfort.
2. Ronaldo runs faster than Messi.
3. They left sooner than we did.
4. This chair is more comfortable than mine.
5. This blue jumper is nicer than my red jumper.
6. My English teacher is the kindest I have ever had.
7. She arrived the earliest, so she had to wait for others.
8. Of all the boys, your brother sand the most sweetly.
9. This rabbit is the oldest in the farm.
10. This has to be the farthest I have ever walked in my life.
11. Of the two shirts, which do you like better?
*The comparative is used to compare two people or things whilst the superlative form is used
to compare three or more people or things.
POSITION OF ADVERBS
Adverbs occupy different positions in a sentence: at the beginning, in the middle, or at the
end.
*Adverbs of Frequency
The most common position for these adverbs is before the main verb in the sentence or
after a form of to be. If there is an auxiliary verb (such as do, does, et cetera) or a modal verb
(such as can, must, et cetera) they come between the auxiliary or modal verb and the main
verb.
Look at the following sentences (with the adverbs of frequency in bold, and the auxiliary,
modal and main verbs are underlined).
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1. She will never come here again.
2. He hardly ever goes out.
3. She can rarely have a rest.
4. Mary occasionally writes to me.
5. It seldom rains in Tamale.
6. Dominic sometimes has to work late.
7. Nkrumah does not usually work on Fridays.
8. She is often late for meetings.
9. I often forget to read novel.
10. I will always remember you.
*Let us look at other adverbs that come before the main verb.
1. I have already had lunch.
2. She has recently bought a new car.
3. He has just returned from work.
4. We finally got home at midnight.
5. I can still remember the day we met.
6. He almost failed the examination.
7. She carefully folded the letter and gave it her manager.
8. She reluctantly agreed to step down as managing director.
9. She is probably tired after the journey.
10. Accidents regularly occur on this crowded street.
*There is one exception, that is, if the main verb is the verb to be (is, am, was, were, or
are), adverb usually goes directly after it.
Look at the following examples. (Adverbs of frequency)
1. She is always late for meetings.
2. They are often tired.
3. He is never here before 7.30 a.m.
Other adverbs
4. The house is so beautiful.
5. The cake was all eaten last night.
6. I am already late.
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*Let us look at a situation where you might see an adverb at the beginning of a sentence. You
may occasionally see some of these adverbs at the beginning of a sentence. This is to put
more emphasis on this element.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Sometimes, I have to go to school early.
2. Usually, Comfort does not work on Fridays.
3. Soon after agreeing to go, she realised she had made a mistake.
4. Currently, the Director is having talks in Navrongo.
5. Finally, we got home at midnight.
*If you put any of the negative adverbs (such as hardly, rarely, scarcely, seldom, et cetera) at
the beginning of a sentence, you will require an inversion (auxiliary-subject switch).
Therefore, it is best to avoid negative adverbs at the start of a sentence.
Look at the following sentences.
1. I could hardly hear her.
Hardly could I hear her.
2. She can rarely have a rest.
Rarely can she have a rest.
3. It seldom rains in Tamale.
Seldom does it rain in Tamale.
*Adverbs of manner
If the adverb of manner ends in –ly (such as carefully, slowly, gently, speedily, et cetera), you
can put it before the main verb, as we have seen with other adverbs. If you do this, you are
stressing this element and should reflect it in your voice.
Look at the following sentences.
1. He opened the door quietly.
2. He quietly opened the door.
3. He enunciates his words clearly.
4. He clearly enunciates his words.
5. She was dancing cheerfully.
6. She was cheerfully dancing.
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CONJUNCTION
A conjunction is a word that joins words, phrases or clauses in a sentence. A conjunctions
are sometimes called Connectives.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Snakes and lizards are cold-blooded animals. (The conjunction and joins the words
snakes and lizards)
2. You can move the cursor either by using the mouse or by using the arrow keys on the
keyboard. (The conjunction either/or joins the two phrases by using the mouse and
by using the arrow keys on the keyboard)
3. It is a nice dress, but it creases very easily. (The conjunction but joins the two clauses
it is a nice dress and it creases very easily)
TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS
There are four groups of conjunctions. These are coordinating conjunctions, subordinating
conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, and correlative conjunctions.
COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
These conjunctions join words that are the same part of speech; an adjective to with an
adjective; a noun with a noun; and so on. Coordinating conjunction can also connect phrase
to phrase, and clause to clause.
There are seven coordinating conjunctions; for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Many people
use the mnemonic FANBOYS to remember them.
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Let us look at their usage.
*FOR
It is used to express a reason or purpose. It has similar meaning to because, since and so, and
can be used in place of any of them. The conjunction ‘for’ is mostly used as preposition.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Dorcas could not the dress, for she had no money.
2. He stayed in the zoo, for he loves animals.
3. She finds it difficult to read, for she is partially blind.
*AND
It is used to join similar ideas.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Peter attended the meeting. John attended the meeting.
Peter and John attended the meeting.
2. The man bought her strawberry, ice cream and a bear lollipop.
3. John’s house is beautiful and spacious.
4. Cecilia is big and strong.
*NOR
This conjunction means ‘also not’. We use nor before the second or last of a set of negative
possibilities.
Look at the following sentences.
1. I cannot be at the meeting and nor can Andrew.
2. He does not have a family nor does he have a home.
3. I cannot finish this dessert nor can I drink my coffee.
4. The audience was not impressed by their performance nor their jokes.
5. I notice your socks are never washed nor your car.
*BUT
It is used to join contrasting ideas or introduce an additional phrase or clause that is different
from what has already been mentioned.
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Look at the following sentences.
1. My father is not a teacher but a doctor.
2. Joana is very hard-working but not very imaginative.
3. This is not caused by evil but by simple ignorance.
4. He looked disappointed at their decision but did not argue.
*OR
It is used to show alternatives or different possibilities.
Look at the following sentences.
1. We can go now or when it stops raining.
2. Is that beef or mutton in the curry?
3. Does Francisca work in the library or a restaurant?
4. You can pay now or when you come back to pick up the paint.
*YET
It is used to add something that seems surprising because of what you have just said or
mentioned.
Look at the following sentences.
1. He is overweight and bald, yet he is attractive.
2. He is only a little boy, yet he is able to carry such a heavy load.
3. She always gets lost, yet she never carries a street map.
4. He always complains about financial difficulties, yet he does not want to work.
*SO
It is used to mean and for this reason. It has a similar meaning to therefore.
Look at the following sentences.
1. My knee started hurting, so I stopped running.
2. I was lost, so I bought a street map.
3. Mary looked at me, so I smiled at her.
4. She was ill, so I sent her a bouquet of flowers to cheer her up.
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Let us look at how to punctuate them correctly.
*When the conjunction only connects two words or phrases, we do not use comma.
Look at the following sentences.
1. John’s house is beautiful and spacious.
2. Does Anita work in a company or a restaurant?
3. Mr Ackah made a bad investment and lost all his investment.
*When we have a list of three or more items, we use comma to separate them (except the last
item).
Look at the following sentences.
1. She bought a book, a pen and a crayon at the market.
2. I am still trying to decide whether to learn guitar, piano, or violin.
*When the conjunction joins two independent clauses, you should always put a comma after
the first clause.
Look at the following sentences.
1. We can go the stadium, or we can clean the house.
2. Mark wanted to work in Accra, but he could not find a job there.
3. Benjamin is a hard-working man, but James is lazy.
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
A subordinating conjunction is a word that introduces a dependent clause which cannot form
a sentence on its own. A subordinating conjunction joins the dependent clause, also called a
subordinating clause, to an independent clause to form a sentence.
The following sentences show subordinating (dependent) clauses in bold. Each subordinating
clause always begins with a subordinating conjunction. The rest of each of the sentences not
in bold is the independent clause, also called main clause.
1. If it rains, I shall not go to school.
2. Although she was confused, she did not ask a question.
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3. You will feel cold if you do not wear a coat.
4. Even though she is quite fat, she can run quickly upstairs.
5. She has aged a lot since the last time we met.
6. My kitchen roof leaks whenever it rains.
7. Our core business will fold unless we put in more money.
The dependent clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions; if, although, since,
whenever, and unless. A subordinating conjunction can come in more than one word as
shown in example four. Other examples of subordinating conjunctions are as, though, till,
lest, once, provided, supposing, than, whereas, until, wherever, whether, when, because,
even if, as though, as soon as, just as, now that, provided that, rather than, so that, just
as, if only, in order that, whilst, as long as, as much as, et cetera.
*You can put the dependent clause at the start or at the end of the sentence. When you put the
dependent clause first, you will have to put a comma after it. If the independent clause comes
first, no comma is needed.
*Many of the subordinating conjunctions (such as since, after, until, before, et cetera) may
sometimes be used as prepositions. You must examine the sentence carefully to determine
whether these words are used as prepositions or conjunctions. If the word is a preposition, it
will be followed by a noun or a pronoun. If it is a subordinating conjunction, it will be in a
clause.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Before the party started, we went to the restaurant. (Used as conjunction)
2. She bowed down before the King. (Used as preposition, also means in front of)
3. Her name came after mine on the list. (Used as preposition)
4. I went to the post office immediately after I left you. (Used as conjunction)
5. England have not won the World Cup in football since 1966. (Used as preposition)
6. Since we have got a few minutes to wait for the train, let us have a cup of coffee.
(Used as conjunction)
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CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS
Another category of conjunctions is correlative conjunctions. These conjunctions come in
pairs and join two words, phrases or clauses together.
Examples of correlative conjunctions are either … or; neither … nor; whether… or; both
… and; not only … but also; no sooner … than; hardly … when, et cetera.
Let us look at their usage.
*Either … or
When using this conjunction, ensure that the verb agrees with the subject that closer to it.
This means that if the two subjects are singular, the verb is singular; and the verb is plural if
both subjects are plural. But if one subject is singular and the other one is plural, the verb can
be singular or plural depending on the subject closer to it. It is used to join two positive
options.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Either you leave now or I call the police!
2. Either Tony or his friends are coming to pick me up in a car.
3. Either the players or the manager is blamed for the poor performance.
4. Either the manager or the players are blamed for the poor performance.
*Neither … or
When using this conjunction, ensure that the verb agrees with the subject that closer to it.
This means that if the two subjects are singular, the verb is singular; and the verb is plural if
both subjects are plural. But if one subject is singular and the other one is plural, the verb can
be singular or plural depending on the subject closer to it.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Neither the children nor their parents were late for the performance.
2. Neither the manager nor the players are criticised for the humiliating defeat.
3. Neither the players nor the manager is criticised for the humiliating defeat.
*Whether … or
This conjunction joins two options, but they must be clauses. It used to introduce two or more
possibilities.
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Look at the following sentences.
1. Whether I drink a lot or a little, my eyes still get red.
2. I do not care whether Evans gets here or not.
3. I could not decide whether to marry Mary or her sister.
*Both … and
This correlative conjunction is used to join two equal items together.
1. Both men and women have complained about the advertisement.
2. Both Aaron and Moses arrived two hours late.
3. This room serves as both a study and a dining room.
4. Both he and his brother are joint leaders of the street gang.
*No sooner … than
This correlative conjunction is used to indicate show that one thing happens immediately
after another thing.
Look at the following sentences.
1. No sooner had I started mowing the lawn than it started raining.
2. No sooner had I left the house than it started to thunder.
3. No sooner had the pastor begun to preach than a baby started crying in the back.
*Hardly … when
This correlative conjunction is another alternative to 'no sooner … than'.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Hardly had I stepped out of the kitchen when I started to smell something burning.
2. Hardly had the party started when drinks started spilling on the floor.
*If the second event occurs immediately after the first event, we can express that idea using
the correlative conjunction no sooner … than. This conjunction introduces the event that
occurred first. For example;
1. No sooner had I arrived at the station than the bus came. (= I came first and the bus
arrived right after me)
2. No sooner had we heard the noise than we rushed to the spot.
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*Not only … but also
This correlative conjunction has similar meaning to 'both … and' and emphasises that two
items belong in a pair.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Not only is he smart but also he is intelligent.
2. He stole not only a car but also two motorcycles.
3. He often goes to the beach not only to swim but also to dive.
4. I like the rainbow not only is it of different colours but also it is of curved shape.
CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS
There are some adverbs that can be used as conjunctions. Such adverbs are called
conjunctive adverbs. The conjunctive adverbs are used to join two complete sentences that
are very closely related in meaning. Examples of conjunctive adverbs are therefore,
consequently, however, moreover, finally, furthermore, otherwise, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Lightning struck the school building.
2. The school building burned to the ground.
Although these could be two unconnected events, in this case, the school building burned
down because it was struck by lightning. A writer might choose to say;
1. Lightning struck the school building; therefore, it burned to the ground.
OR
2. Lightning struck the school building; consequently, it burned to the ground.
Now the words therefore and consequently are called conjunctive adverbs.
*When the conjunctive adverb is used to join two complete sentences, place a semi-colon
before it and a comma after it. You can also place a full stop before the conjunctive adverb
and comma after it.
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Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Mr Buadi wants his son to be a footballer; however, the boy is determined to be a
doctor.
2. The success of our company depends on our customers. Therefore, we must always
treat them with respect.
3. Joshua loves living in Madrid. However, his wife hates the city’s pollution.
*If these words do not join two complete ideas, they are adverbs.
Look at the following sentences.
1. We did, however, call them to help us.
2. She has just found out she failed her examination, hence her bad mood.
3. She is always bad-tempered, and consequently does not have many friends.
4. We finally got home at midnight.
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UNIT 7
PREPOSITION
Prepositions are used to form relationships between nouns and other words in a sentence by
linking them. A preposition is followed by a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun, each of which
becomes the object of the preposition. There are many propositions, most of which are single-
word such as above, along, behind, at, of, in, on, since, to, until, with, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. She woke up before sunrise. (The noun sunrise is the object of the preposition
before)
2. The books are on the table. (The noun the table is the object of the preposition on)
3. It gets cold at night. (The noun night is the object of the preposition at)
4. Anthony left for Tamale. (The noun Tamale is the object of the proposition for)
TYPES OF PREPOSITIONS
The different kinds of prepositions are used to provide us with different information with
regards to time (prepositions of time), place (prepositions of place), and direction
(prepositions of direction). Besides these three types, there are others such as preposition of
manner and prepositions of cause and reason. The same preposition however can be used for
the different divisions into time, place and direction.
*Prepositions of time
The prepositions of time indicate the time and date or the period of time that something
happens. Some of the prepositions of time include at, in, on, since, throughout, during, by,
from, until, et cetera. We use the preposition at with clock, meal, festivals, et cetera. The
preposition in is used with season, month, year century or part of the day. We also use the
preposition on with day, date, et cetera.
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Look at the following sentences.
1. We have breakfast at six o’clock.
2. The bells ring at regular intervals through the day.
3. It rains a lot in rainy season.
4. They will come back in June.
5. I started working here in 2008.
6. Some trees lose their leaves in the dry season.
7. Cecilia flew to France on Sunday.
8. She made an appointment with me on the third of March.
9. I was up until three o’clock trying to get it finished.
10. Drinks will be served from seven o’clock.
11. They work during the night and sleep by day.
12. England have not won the World Cup in football since 1966.
13. We travelled by night and rested by day.
14. He yawned throughout the performance.
*Prepositions of place
Prepositions of place indicate where something is or where something happens. Examples of
prepositions o place include in, on, at, outside, inside, under, beside, behind, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. They live in a charming old cottage.
2. Your suitcase is on top of the wardrobe.
3. They stood under a tree to avoid getting wet.
4. She met me at the bus station.
5. There was something like a snake inside the dark cage.
6. She sat for three hours on the floor outside his room.
7. Our house was built right beside a river.
8. I hung my coat behind the door.
*Prepositions of direction
Prepositions of direction indicate direction of movement or show that something is directed
to somewhere. Preposition of direction include into, onto, off, to, towards, out, from, et
cetera.
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Look at the following sentences.
1. She looked straight into his eyes.
2. I slipped as I stepped onto the platform.
3. He fell off his bike.
4. I walked backwards towards the door.
5. The bag burst and the apples fell out.
6. I asked someone the way to the town centre.
*Preposition of manner
The prepositions of manner show the way something happens or how something is done.
They often use the word by. Prepositions of manner include by, in, like, on, with, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. She went there by bus.
2. She sings like an angel.
3. You are acting like a complete idiot!
4. She reacted with anger to what her friend said.
5. We went to Australia on the ferry.
6. He always talks in a whisper.
7. She usually paints in watercolour.
*Prepositions of cause and reason
The prepositions of cause and reason are used to express the cause of something or the reason
that something happens, and the effect it has on another thing. Prepositions of cause and
reason which include compound prepositions are as a result (of), because (of), due to, for,
from, on account of, through, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. He does not smoke cigarette on account of his health.
2. The train will arrive an hour late due to wet leaves on the line.
3. Profits have declined as a result of the recent drop in sales.
4. The bus was delayed because of bad weather.
5. A lot of water is wasted through leakage.
6. She made her money from investing in property.
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7. She was rushed to hospital but died from her injuries.
8. They have invited us round for dinner on Saturday.
9. Everyone in the office is contributing money for his leaving present.
SIMPLE AND COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS
A simple preposition is a one-word preposition. A preposition can also come in a two-word
or a three-word combination, which is called a compound preposition. A compound
preposition (also called phrasal preposition) functions as a single preposition. A compound
preposition that consists of two words include according to, because of, due to, et cetera.
Three-word compound prepositions include in addition to, in front of, in spite of, et cetera.
Simple prepositions include against, onto, in, on, of, with, beside, et cetera. Prepositions
used in a sentence are commonly placed immediately after a noun, an adjective, or a verb.
Prepositions are also used after a direct object.
Look at the following sentences.
1. He had very little information regarding the policeman’s disappearance. (Simple)
2. The train is now heading towards the tunnel. (Simple)
3. You can have rice instead of potatoes. (Compound)
4. The policeman did not know he was sitting next to a wanted man. (Compound)
5. There is a parking space in front of the hotel. (Compound)
6. He cannot sing any more on account of his failing health. (Compound)
7. In spite of his injury, Salah will play in Saturday’s match. (Compound)
8. According to Monica, they are not getting on very well at the moment. (Compound)
9. A lot of his unhappiness is due to boredom. (Compound)
10. He sold the house even though it was against his wishes. (Simple)
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*We use the prepositions over and under for thing that is higher or lower than another thing
and it is direct vertical.
1. The mirror is over the sink.
2. The sink is under the mirror.
*We use the prepositions above and below for thing that is higher or lower than another thing
but it is not direct vertical.
1. The mirror is above the toilet.
2. The toilet is below the mirror.
*The prepositional phrase on time means at exactly the right time.
4. The bus leaves at 7.00 a.m. every day, so the bus leaves on time.
*The prepositional phrase in time means early enough.
1. If we do not hurry up, we will not be in time to catch the bus.
2. We arrived in good time for the start of the match.
*The prepositional phrase in the end means finally (after something has been thought about
or discussed a lot).
1. We were thinking about going to Takoradi, but in the end we went to Tamale.
*The prepositional phrase at the end means at the point where something stops.
5. At the end of the film, I felt so excited.
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INTERJECTION
In grammar, an interjection is a word which is used to show a short sudden expression of
emotion such as surprise, pleasure, or anger. Interjections are sometimes followed by
exclamation mark (!). Examples of interjections include ‘Wow!’, ‘Oh!’ ‘Hey!’, ‘Hurry!’,
‘Oops!’ et cetera. Interjections are not connected to the rest of the sentence. However, for
formal speech or writing, using interjections is not appropriate.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Hurry! My sister won the race.
2. Wow! That is an amazing scene.
3. What? You never told me that!
4. Aw, I did not want her to come.
5. Oops! I left my wallet at the restaurant.
6. Yes! I will definitely clean the bathroom.
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SECTION TWO
EXPANDING THE MESSAGE
This section is intended to equip pupils with requisite
knowledge for recognising and correcting defective sentences.
It will also help pupils to learn about the parts of sentences
and how to construct good sentences.
This section covers the following areas of English grammar;
1. Phrase and Clause structure
2. Sentence
3. Conditional sentences
4. Direct and Indirect speech
5. Question tags
6. Active and Passive sentences
7. Tenses
8. Determiners, and
9. Subject-Verb Agreement
These structures will help pupils in their writing (paragraphs
and essays).
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PHRASES
Phrase and clause cover everything a sentence has. If the clauses are the pillars of a building,
the phrases are the bricks. The basic difference between a clause and a phrase is that a clause
must have a finite verb and a phrase must not.
A phrase is a group of words which has no finite verb in it and acts to complete a sentence
for making it meaningful. In other words, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a
unit without subject and verb combination.
TYPES OF PHRASE
There are many different types of phrases in English grammar. The different types of phrases
serve different purposes and have different functions within sentences. All of the types are
both important and useful in our everyday language. Let us look at each of the types.
NOUN PHRASE
A noun phrase is a group of words that works together to name or describe a place, thing, or
idea. The noun phrase consists of two parts; a noun and modifiers connected to that noun.
Most often, these modifiers will be adjectives, articles, or prepositional phrases. The noun
phrase can function as a subject, an object or a complement in a sentence.
Look at the following sentences.
1. The quick, brown fox jumped over the dog.
The noun phrase is the subject of the sentence. In other words, this sentence is about the
quick, brown fox. But, instead of just saying fox, the rest of the noun phrase works to
describe it.
2. The end of the season is hard for some athletes.
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The noun phrase acts as the subject in the sentence. The five words in the noun phrase work
together to name a period of time that is hard for some athletes.
3. An enormous tree stands on the river bank.
The noun phrase begins with the article an. The article and the adjective (enormous) are both
modifiers describing the noun (tree) in the noun phrase an enormous tree.
4. The box in the attic is full of old clothes.
The noun phrase includes the prepositional phrase in the attic. It gives us a detail about the
noun box–where it is located. The noun phrase in this example is the subject of the sentence.
5. Rebecca gave her a hungry, crying baby a bottle.
The noun phrase her hungry, crying baby is the indirect object (a bottle is the direct object
because it receives the action gave).
ADJECTIVE PHRASE
An adjective phrase (also called adjectival phrase) is a group of words, whose head word is
an adjective.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Daniel is a well-behaved man.
2. The restaurant serves really delicious meals.
3. Everyone knows she is very angry with you.
4. Rebecca is a woman of gorgeous style.
5. Eric is a man of friendly nature.
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
A prepositional phrase is a phrase that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun,
pronoun or clause (called the object of the preposition).
Look at the following sentences.
1. He went to the farm.
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The prepositional phrase is to the farm. The preposition in this sentence is to, and the object
of the preposition is the farm. .
2. I still enjoyed the week despite the weather.
3. The toy was made out of plastic.
4. Today is the first day of the month.
5. Yesterday, we met in the public library.
6. She bumped into his tray, knocking the food onto his lap.
ADVERBIAL PHRASE
An adverbial phrase is a term for two or more words which play the role of an adverb in a
sentence.
Look at the following sentences.
1. She responded in a very rude manner.
2. Joshua always arrives sooner than the other students.
3. In the forest many creatures snarl and growl.
4. I ran as fast as possible.
5. Sadio Mane runs six miles every day.
6. This product is available in all places.
7. I saw a lot of trash beside the highway.
8. He works very slowly.
VERB PHRASE
In most verb phrases, one verb (the main verb) carries information about what kind of event,
activity or state the verb phrase refers to. Other verbs in the verb phrase, called auxiliary
verbs, contribute additional information to the meaning of the verb phrase.
Look at the following sentences.
1. The author is writing a new book.
2. I must iron my clothes tonight.
3. He was walking to walk today,
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4. We grew apart after senior high school.
*A verb phrase can also be a phrase that functions as an adverb or adjective that has a verb
and complement, object, or modifiers.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Running on the wet floor, he slipped and fell.
2. To bake a cake, you need flour and sugar.
3. I have saved enough money to buy a car.
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CLAUSES
A clause is a group of words which includes a subject and a finite verb and forms a simple
sentence or part of a non-simple sentence. A clause contains a subject and a finite verb. The
subject of a clause can be mentioned or hidden, but the verb must be apparent and
distinguishable.
TYPES OF CLAUSES
In broad categorisations, there are two types of clauses; independent clause (main clause)
and dependent clause (subordinate clause).
INDEPENDENT CLAUSE
An independent clause can stand alone in a sentence and express a complete thought. This
clause does not depend on another clause to fully express itself. A sentence can contain more
than one clause which can all be independent clauses, the clauses are connected by the
coordinating conjunctions; and, so, or, but, et cetera.
Look at the following examples.
1. I eat banana every afternoon.
2. He is a wise man.
3. I went there yesterday.
4. He got home, slept, and left for the library.
5. My father will leave for Australia next week.
6. She has just arrived.
7. He wants to buy a motorcycle, but he does not have enough money.
8. It is a nice dress, but it creases very easily.
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DEPENDENT CLAUSE
The dependent clause does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone in a
sentence. It is also called subordinate clause. Dependent clause must be joined with an
independent clause to be grammatically correct. The subordinate clause gives additional
information to the main clause. Subordinate conjunctions usually introduce the subordinate
clause in a sentence. These subordinate conjunctions include if, whilst, before, because,
although, after, unless, though, et cetera.
Let us look at the following example of dependent clause.
6. I saw the man who stole your bag.
The part of the sentence ‘I saw the man’ can stand alone as an independent sentence
because it gives complete meaning. Such a clause is called main clause. On the other
hand, the remaining part of the sentence ‘who stole your bag’ cannot stand as
independent sentence. It cannot give complete meaning because it depends on the main
clause to become a complete sentence and give a complete idea. Such a clause is called
subordinate clause or dependent clause.
Look at the following sentences (with the dependent clauses in bold).
1. When I heard the news, I was disturbed.
2. If I come tomorrow, I shall give you the letter.
3. The man whose motorcycle got damaged has bought a new one.
4. The car which was stolen has been found.
5. Nothing will happen unless we pray fervently.
6. I could not attend the event because my car caught fire in the morning.
7. He does not know where he was born.
8. I know the man who stole the watch.
9. He bought a house which was too expensive.
10. Before he could reach the door, she quickly closed it.
FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSE
The subordinate clause has three forms based on function. These forms are;
1. Adjectival/Relative clause
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2. Adverbial clause
3. Noun clause
NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause has to do with the subordinate clause which performs the function of a noun in
a sentence. A noun serves as a subject of a verb in a sentence or complement of a verb in a
sentence–so does a noun clause. Some of the words that introduce noun clause are that,
what, which, when, where, et cetera. The noun clause usually answers the question who or
what.
Look at the following sentences (with the noun clauses in bold).
1. Whoever arrives first is the winner.
2. We shall accept whomsoever she brings home.
3. Whoever wins the race goes home with great prizes.
4. What the woman said was an insult.
5. When you choose to start the work will determine your salary.
6. She buys whatever she needs.
7. Now I realised what you had thought.
8. Whatever we study broadens our knowledge.
ADJECTIVAL CLAUSE
Adjectival clause is a group of words that acts as an adjective in a sentence. It is also called
relative clause. Like an adjective, it modifies a noun or pronoun in a sentence. We introduce
this clause by the relative pronouns such as who, whom, whose, that, et cetera. However, we
can form it without a relative pronoun. The noun that the relative pronoun qualifies is the
antecedent and it normally precedes the pronoun in the clause. The relative clause answers
the question which or what kind.
Look at the following sentences (with the adjectival clauses in bold).
1. The woman standing over there is my sister.
2. The tree that blocked the road is too heavy.
3. Joyce whom I spoke about is here.
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4. I saw a little girl who was crying.
5. I watch a film which amuses me.
6. The car, which I like, consumes less fuel.
7. The building, where she lives, consists of many flats.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSE
Adverbial clause is a subordinate clause that performs the function of an adverb in a sentence.
It answers the questions where, how, why, when, et cetera–this is because the adverbial
clause has different types.
*Adverbial clause of time
This refers to when an action takes place. It mostly uses the subordinating conjunctions such
as after, whilst, as soon as, before, when, until, since, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. As soon as the students saw their teacher, they ran away.
2. After the church service, my parents and I went to the zoo.
3. The armed robbers fled immediately they saw the police.
4. The thief froze as soon as he heard the police sirens.
5. I read it whilst you were plaiting your hair.
6. The patient had died before the doctor reached there.
*Adverbial clause of place
This refers to where an action takes place.
Look at the following sentences.
1. She travelled where no one could reach her.
2. He promised to search for the wallet wherever he might find it.
3. Blay sat where his father had prepared for his friend.
*Adverbial clause of manner
Adverbial clause of manner refers to how an action takes place.
Look at the following sentences.
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1. The man was talking as if he was the leader of the group.
2. The choir sang as though the heavens would fall.
3. They stared at me as if I was crazy.
4. Abigail performed so wonderfully that she got a scholarship.
*Adverbial clause of reason
This clause tells the reason for the action the verb express. Subordinating conjunctions such
as because, since, as, et cetera are used to begin the adverbial clause of reason.
1. As it was getting late, he decided to book into a hotel.
2. He was denied admission because he had failed the entrance examination.
3. He may not be arrested since he has already returned the stolen goods.
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TENSE
Every verb has four main forms, called principal parts of verb. These principal parts of a
verb–present tense, present participle, past tense, and past participle are used to create all
forms of verbs including verb tenses.
The following table shows the principle parts of verb.
Present tense
(Base form)
Present participle Past tense Past participle
I sing. I am singing. I sang. I have sung.
He eats fruits. He is eating fruits. He ate fruits. He has eaten fruits.
She cooks. She is cooking. She cooked. She has cooked.
They drink. They are drinking. They drank. They have drunk.
Tense refers to the location of an event is time. Simply, tense refers to the time period in
which the verb of a sentence places an action. In other words, it is a form of the verb which
shows the time an action takes place. There are only two tenses in English–present tense and
past tense, as in eat/ate, respectively. Unlike in some other languages, there is no future
tense in English.
English has no verbal infection (there is no change of form in English verbs) to show or mark
a future tense. You can have a verb in the present tense inflected for the past tense. But the
same verb cannot be inflected to mark future tense. If we inflect the present tense of the verb
sing to mark past tense, we have sang. What do you have if you inflect this verb (see) to
show future tense?
To talk about future events, English requires either the modal verbs will and shall or the
present progressive aspect. The forms shall and will are not verbal inflections but modal
verbs.
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The forms will and shall belong to a set of modal auxiliaries and can express meanings other
than reference to future time.
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
The basic meaning of the present tense expresses facts (universal truth), habits (habitual
actions), and state of being.
Look at the following sentences.
Facts
1. I live in Tamale.
2. A dentist treats people’s teeth.
3. It rains a lot here.
4. The sun rises in the East.
5. Seven days make a week.
Habitual actions
1. He works on weekends.
2. We brush our teeth every morning.
3. She goes to church on Sundays.
4. She dances extremely well.
5. She always drinks coffee.
Present events
1. The child is awake.
2. Mane passes the ball and Salah kicks the ball into the net. (Commentary)
*The secondary meaning of present tense describes past events and future events in
limited ways.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Kenyan doctor performs brain surgery on wrong patient.
2. Lightning strikes SDA church in Rwanda.
Each of the sentences uses present tense (newspaper headlines) to describe past event. The
Present tense in the headlines and the sudden switch from Past to Present have the effect of
dramatising the events.
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SIMPLE PAST TENSE
Simple past tense is used to express a completed action at a specified time in the past. The
basic meaning of the simple past tense in English is used to locate an event or state in the
past. These expressions require this tense–yesterday, a week ago, a fortnight ago, last year,
when I was young, et cetera.
Look at the following sentences.
1. He obtained his driving licence last month.
2. We spoke on the phone three weeks ago.
3. The old man died a fortnight ago.
4. She gave birth last Friday.
5. I saw her yesterday.
6. He returned to the country last year.
Aspect refers to the duration of an event within a particular tense. There are two aspects
in English–perfective aspect and progressive aspect. While tense basically expresses an
event or state in present or past time, aspect is concerned with such notions as duration and
completion or incompletion of the process expressed by the verb.
*PERFECTIVE ASPECT
This deals with the verbal groups which have the forms of have plus verb (past participle);
that is, have/has/had plus the perfect form of a verb. Under the perfect aspect, we have two
sub-types; present perfect and past perfect.
PRESENT PERFECT
*With an action verb–It expresses a completed action without a definite time in the past.
It does not point to a specific time but relate to a relevant time. It is formed with the simple
present of the auxiliary verb HAVE (has/have) and a main verb in a form of a past
participle. The present perfect is often used with these words and expressions–yet, already,
since, for, never, so far, until now, in the last three years, twice, three times, recently, lately,
et cetera.
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Let us look at the following sentences.
1. I have found my missing wallet.
2. She has done half of the exercises so far.
3. I have learned tenses just now.
4. She has written ten books so far.
5. She has already eaten the food.
6. The prisoners have already escaped.
7. I have visited Navrongo five times. (Not habitual but occurred five times without a
definite time in the past.)
8. I have read this book many times. (Not habitual but occurred many times without a
specified time in the past.)
*State verb (such as ‘to be’, ‘to know’, ‘to have’, ‘to understand’, et cetera) does not take a
progressive (continuous) aspect. With the state verbs, the present perfect (have done)
replaces the present perfect progressive (have been doing). This means that with state
verbs, the present perfect shows a state that continues from the past to the present.
Look at the following examples.
1. Dominic and I have been friends for three years. (We cannot say–Dominic and I been
being friends for three years.)
2. I have known them since last year. (We cannot say–I have been knowing them since
last year; because know is a state verb and it cannot be used in the present perfect
continuous.)
PAST PERFECT
The past perfect is a compound verb form which requires two verbs–the simple past of the
auxiliary verb HAVE (had) and a past participle. The past perfect is used to talk about a past
event that occurred before a different past event. There are usually two completed actions in
the sentence–one happens before the other. The second action or event is always in the simple
past. We often use the conjunctions before and after to join both events.
Let us look at the following example.
1. Joshua and I had eaten before we saw you yesterday.
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Note that there are two actions or events that took place yesterday.
1) Joshua and I ate yesterday.
2) Joshua and I saw you yesterday.
If I am speaking about a single event in the past, the past perfect is not required; for instance,
Joshua and I saw you yesterday.
*Look at the following examples (with the second events in bold).
1. He had slept a little before the phone rang.
2. She arrived after we had watched a football match.
3. He had written that poem before he became ill.
4. I had collected the dictionary before he left.
5. The doctor came after the patient had died.
6. Eric had beaten his friend before the teacher arrived.
7. James had bought a mobile phone before you came here.
*PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
There are four sub-types of the progressive aspect;
1. Present progressive
2. Past progressive
3. Present perfect progressive
4. Past perfect progressive
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
The present progressive, also called present continuous, is formed with the verb BE
conjugated in the simple present followed by a present participle. This is an illustration;
Subject + BE + (Verb + ing)
Look at the following examples.
1. Peter and John are studying the Bible.
2. I am learning now.
3. They are felling trees continuously.
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4. Vida is washing her clothes.
The present progressive has two primary functions;
*It describes actions that are occurring at this moment.
1. The baby is sleeping.
2. I am searching for my missing wallet.
*It describes a future actions.
1. He is leaving in three weeks.
2. He is graduating next year.
3. We are staying here tomorrow.
4. Eric is getting married next month.
5. William McDowell is arriving in Ghana tomorrow.
By using the temporal adverbs (in three weeks, next year, tomorrow, next month) the actions
can be placed in the future. Without the temporal adverbs, we assume these actions are
occurring at this moment.
Many students are taught that the modal verb will is the standard form used to indicate future
events. In fact, the present progressive is much more common in both American and British
English.
PAST PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
The past progressive is used to describe an action that was happening in the past at a very
precise moment in the past. The past progressive, also called past continuous, is formed with
the verb BE conjugated in the simple past (was/were) followed by a present participle.
Look at the following examples.
1. They were playing football at 4.00 p.m. yesterday.
2. She was drawing a picture at this time yesterday.
3. Benjamin was watching films throughout the night.
The past progressive is also used to describe an action that was in progress when a shorter
action took place. The shorter event is always in the simple past. It may stop the action in
progress or not.
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Look at the following examples. (The shorter events are underlined)
1. Faustina was sleeping when the cell phone rang.
2. Nkrumah was watching a film when his mother arrived.
3. As he was reading his book, the power went out.
4. While I was crossing the road, my wallet fell down.
5. When Monica came, I was sleeping.
PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
The present perfect progressive, also called present perfect continuous, is used to express an
action that started in the past and is still going on. It is formed with the simple present of
the auxiliary verb HAVE (have/has), the past participle of the verb BE (been), and the
present participle of another verb (verb + ing).
Look at the following examples.
1. I have been learning since morning.
2. He has been preaching for two hours.
3. She has been doing her homework since 8.30 a.m.
4. She has been writing a letter for three hours.
Let us look at the difference between the present perfect and the present prefect progressive.
Present perfect Present perfect progressive
Usage: Action that is complete at the
time of speaking without a specified
time in the past.
Usage: Action that started in the past
and is still in progress.
Examples Examples
1. He has already written four
poems.
1. He has been writing poems
since morning.
2. She has driven for ten
kilometres so far.
2. She has been driving for three
hours.
3. I have already done half of the
homework.
3. I have been doing the
homework since 6.30 a.m.
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Look at the following examples.
1. Incorrect: She has waited for two hours. (She is still waiting, so it should be in the
present perfect continuous.)
Correct: She has been waiting for two hours.
2. Incorrect: He has slept since 4.30 p.m. (The action is still in progress–he is still
sleeping, so it should be in the present perfect progressive.)
Correct: He has been sleeping since 4.30 p.m.
PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
The past perfect progressive refers to an action that had started, had continued for some time
and was still in progress either before another action or before a very precise moment in
the past. The second event is always in the simple past. It requires three verbs–the simple
past of the auxiliary verb HAVE (had), the past participle of the verb BE (been), and a
present participle (verb + ing).
Look at the following examples.
1. She had been writing a letter for three hours by this time yesterday.
2. He had been sleeping for a long time when his mobile phone rang.
3. She had been waiting for two hours when the manager arrived. .
4. It had been raining for several hours by 8.a.m. yesterday.
5. Tony had been sleeping deeply when the thunder awoke him.
6. We had been playing football when she arrived.
FUTURE EVENTS
We cannot refer to future events as facts, as we can to past and present situations, since future
events are not open to observation or memory. Although English has no future tense in the
strict sense, we commonly use a number of combinations (such as be + going to, modal verb
will, simple present tense, and present progressive aspect) to express future events. The
combination of the future time marker and the aspect of a verb results in the verb structures
that we usually call the future simple, future progressive, future perfect, and the future
perfect progressive.
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For the purpose of clarity, this book will use the modal verb will for the examples, but it
should be remembered that, we can replace will with another modal verb of future meaning
(shall; when the subject is I or we).
FUTURE SIMPLE
The future simple structure is used to express events that will occur at a moment in the
future. It is also used when an action is planned to occur in the future. This structure is
formed using modal verb will plus the base form of a verb (the infinitive without to).
Look at the following examples.
1. We will attend the ceremony next week.
2. They will be here very soon.
3. I will probably call him this evening.
4. The head teacher will retire at the end of the year.
*The present progressive aspect is also used when the action is promised/arranged/planned
to take place in the future. Without a future time marker (such as tomorrow, tonight, next
week, next month, et cetera), it is not possible to talk about a future event, because the
present progressive aspect on its own would create an ambiguous sentence. There would
be no way to determine if the event is happening now or if it will happen in the future.
Look at the following examples.
1. We are attending the ceremony next week.
2. Eric is getting married next month.
3. Evans is having dinner with Jennifer tonight.
4. They are travelling to Bolgatanga on Friday.
5. I am visiting my sister next week.
6. The head teacher is retiring at the end of the year.
7. The bus is leaving at 9.30 p.m.
*The use of be going to form (Future time marker is required.)
Usage: An action in the future that has already been planned by the speaker or something that
is certain to happen in the near future.
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1. I am going to call Evans after Church service.
2. I am going to travel to Tamale on Friday.
3. He is going to leave tomorrow.
4. They are going to travel to Tamale on Friday.
*The use of simple present tense (Future time marker is required.)
1. He leaves for Australia tomorrow.
2. The president’s tenure begins next month.
3. The training commences next week.
FUTURE PROGRESSIVE
The future progressive structure, also called future continuous, is used to express events or
actions that will be in progress at a given moment in the future. The future continuous is
formed using the modal verb will, the verb be, and present participle.
Look at the following examples.
1. They will be playing outside when their mother arrives.
2. We will be eating dinner at 6.30 p.m.
3. I will be sleeping around 10.00 p.m. tomorrow.
4. She will be preparing the meal when I come home.
Note that state verbs do not take continuous aspect.
FUTURE PERFECT
The future perfect structure is used to express action that will be completed in the future
either before a specific moment or before another action takes place. It is formed using will +
have + past participle.
Look at the following examples.
1. She will have eaten before her mother arrives.
2. We will have left the hotel by midnight.
3. I will have completed the assignments by Sunday.
4. They will have submitted their letters by tomorrow.
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FUTURE FERFECT PROGRESSIVE
This structure is used to express action that will have started, continued for some time and
will still be in progress in the future either before a specific moment or before another action
takes place. It is formed using will + have + been + present participle.
Look at the following examples.
1. We will have been swimming for a few hours by the time we leave.
2. My younger brother will have been sitting for an hour when the film finishes.
3. I will have been cleaning all day when you arrive.
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SENTENCE
A sentence is an independent clause that consists of a group of words expressing a complete
thought. Every sentence is divided into two main parts–subject and predicate.
The simple subject is the noun or pronoun that identifies the person, place, or thing the
sentence is about. The complete subject is the simple subject and all the words that modify
it. The predicate contains the verb that explains what the subject is doing. The simple
predicate contains only a verb whilst the complete predicate contains a verb and all the
words that follow it, which can be direct object, indirect object, complement, modifiers,
phrase, or clause.
A subject of a sentence either performs an action as expressed by the main verb or shows a
state of being as indicated by the main verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Dominic sings.
(Dominic= Subject/noun; sings= predicate/action verb)
2. She is sick.
(She= subject/pronoun; is sick= predicate indicating a state of being of the subject)
3. Wait here while I go and get some biscuits.
(A predicate without a subject. The subject is understood to be you; you wait here while I go
and get some biscuits.)
A subject of a sentence is called compound subject when it is composed of two or more
nouns or pronouns connected by the conjunction ‘and’ or ‘or’.
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Here are examples of compound subjects used in sentences with the compound subjects in
bold.
1. Kofi and Ama are close friends.
2. He or his sister is driving.
3. She and I went to the mall.
A predicate completes a sentence by expressing what the subject does or what the subject is.
The predicate consists of one main verb which can be action verb or a linking verb, or a verb
phrase and the complement that follows.
A complement is a word or a group of words that completes the predicate in a sentence. It
includes objects and modifiers.
An action verb describes the action performed by the subject whilst a linking verb shows a
state of being of a subject. An action verb is usually followed by a direct object, an indirect
object or a phrase which can be prepositional phrase or adverbial phrase, or modifiers.
Look at the following examples.
1. The girl sings.
(Predicate of a single verb)
2. The dog is barking.
(Predicate of a verb phrase)
3. Joana bought me a car.
(Predicate of a verb, direct object and indirect object)
4. Matthew drives a car.
(Predicate of a verb and a direct object)
5. She dresses nicely.
(Predicate of a verb and its modifier)
6. She is an intelligent teacher.
(Predicate of a linking verb and its complement)
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A compound predicate expresses two or more actions performed by the same subject in a
sentence. Such a predicate is used to indicate that the subject is doing more than one action.
Look at the following examples.
1. He visited Half Assini and met his extended family.
This example has two verb phrases–visited Half Assini, and met his extended family. The
conjunction ‘and’ connects the two verb phrases.
2. The cat scratched and purred at the door.
In this example, the cat is the subject. The cat performed two actions; scratched and purred
at the door.
COMPLEMENT
A complement is a word or a group of words that completes the predicate in a sentence. It
includes objects and modifiers. Complements can be broken into the following forms;
1. Action verbs are followed by; direct object, indirect object, and object complement.
2. Linking verbs are followed by; subject complement.
A direct object is a noun or a pronoun that comes after the verb to complete the meaning of
the verb, which is a transitive verb. The direct object receives the action of the transitive verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Cecilia cleaned the window.
2. I bought a book.
3. He kicked the ball.
An indirect object is a noun or a pronoun that appears in a sentence after the verb and before
the direct object. It can only be found in a sentence that has a direct object. The indirect
object also shows to whom something is done, and who receives the direct action.
Look at the following examples.
1. I bought Paul a book. (Paul= indirect object; a book= direct object)
2. Peter showed me his car. (me= indirect object; car=direct object)
3. I gave her ice cream. (her= indirect object; ice cream= ice cream)
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An object complement can be a noun or an adjective. It comes immediately after a direct
object, and describes the direct object. It can be a single word or a phrase.
Look at the following examples.
1. His stare made her angry.
2. Paul named John as the new manager.
3. They elected Joshua the Managing Director.
4. She called me silly.
5. We considered him worthy.
A subject complement is a word that follows a linking verb. The subject complement can be
a noun or an adjective. Subject complement gives further meaning to the subject. A noun as a
subject complement renames the subject whilst an adjective as a subject complement
describes the subject.
Look at the following examples.
1. James is a lawyer.
(James is a noun; lawyer is the subject complement–follows the linking verb is (to be) and
renames the subject James.)
2. The shoes are black.
(The word black is an adjective; it is the subject complement–follows the linking verb are (to
be) and describes the subject shoes.)
Subject complement always follows a linking verb (such as to be, to seem, to appear, et
cetera). A linking verb does not take an object, that is, an object will not follow a linking
verb. Rather, a subject complement will follow a linking verb.
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Richmond seems frustrated.
(Frustrated is the subject complement describing the subject Richmond; frustrated is
not an object but an adjective. The word seems is a linking verb.)
2. Richmond drives a car.
(A car is a noun and also the direct object; the object car receives the action ‘drives’
performs by the subject ‘Richmond’.)
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TYPES OF SENTENCES
There are two main ways of grouping sentences. We have structure and functional
classifications.
There are four types of sentences according to structure;
1. Simple sentence
2. Compound sentence
3. Complex sentence
4. Compound-complex sentence
There are also four types of sentence functions;
1. Declarative sentence
2. Interrogative sentence
3. Imperative sentence
4. Exclamatory sentence
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Sentence structure is the way in which we combine words, clauses or phrases in order to
express a complete thought. English sentence structure requires a subject and a finite verb.
The most common order of the different elements of sentence in English is;
WHO?WHAT?WHERE?WHEN?HOW?WHY.
A sentence usually begins with WHO element (a subject), and followed by WHAT element
(verb).
Look at the following examples.
1. Nkrumah drives.
2. Faustina sings.
Some verbs require an object. The object is part of the WHAT element (a verb).
Look at the following examples.
1. The bus hit the tree.
2. I made a chocolate cake.
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Now that you are familiar with the WHO and WHAT elements, add the other elements in the
following order;
WHERE?WHEN?HOW?WHY
Look at the following examples.
1. Emmanuel called this morning to cancel his appointment.
(WHO; Emmanuel? WHAT; called? WHEN; this morning? WHY; to cancel his
appointment)
2. Ackah ate breakfast on the train this morning because he was late.
(WHO; Ackah? WHAT; ate breakfast? WHERE; on the train? WHEN; this morning?
WHY; because he was late)
3. The bus hit the tree with excessive force.
(WHO; the bus? WHAT; hit the tree? HOW; with excessive force)
*If one of these elements is composed of different parts, choose from the smaller unit to the
larger unit.
Look at the following examples.
1. The Minister of Education arrived here at 10.00 a.m. on Tuesday last week.
(WHO; The Minister OF Education? WHAT; arrived? WHERE; here? WHEN; at
10.00. a.m., on Tuesday, last week)
2. Mr and Mrs Buadi live in a flat in a big city in Ivory Coast.
(WHO; Mr and Mr Buadi? WHAT; live? WHERE; in a flat, in a big city, in Ivory Coast)
Let us look at the following sentences.
1. Incorrect: We two years ago bought this motorcycle.
(WHO?WHEN? WHAT)
Correct: We bought this motorcycle two years ago.
(WHO? WHAT? WHEN)
2. Incorrect: Faustina ate slowly her meal.
(WHO?WHAT?HOW?WHAT)
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Correct: Faustina ate her meal slowly.
(WHO?WHAT?HOW)
3. Incorrect: We drove at the weekend to the beach resort.
(WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE)
Correct: We drove to the beach resort at the weekend.
(WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN)
4. Incorrect: She goes by bus to school
(WHO?WHAT? HOW?WHERE)
Correct: She goes to school by bus.
(WHO? WHAT? WHERE? HOW)
SIMPLE SENTENCE
A simple sentence expresses a single idea and consists of a single independent clause. It may
have only a subject and a verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. James went to school yesterday.
2. Joana watches films every evening.
It can be long as the subject can be a compound subject and verb can also be a verb phrase.
Look at the following examples.
1. The doctor and the patient are siblings. (Compound subject)
2. Ama sneezes and coughs every day. (Compound verb)
3. Edward and Adrian are very friendly. (Compound subject)
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A compound sentence is formed when two independent clauses are joined together by a
coordinating conjunction.
Look at the following examples.
1. Emmanuel went to school, but his sister went to the market.
2. Sophia cleaned the house and Frank washed the car.
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3. I am slim, but my sister is obese.
4. I came home late, so my mother became angry.
We can also use conjunctive adverbs to connect or join two independent clauses.
2. We have to leave before 7.30 p.m.; otherwise, we will not arrive in time.
COMPLEX SENTENCE
A complex sentence is formed by combining an independent clause and one or more
dependent clauses. A comma is placed after the dependent clause if it introduces the
independent clause. However, when the dependent clause follows an independent clause, a
comma is not required. The dependent clause, also called subordinating clause, cannot stand
on its own as a sentence. Therefore, it has to join an independent clause to form a sentence.
We use subordinating clause (because, even, if, while, unless, et cetera) to join the dependent
clause to the independent clause.
Look at the following examples (with the dependent clause in bold).
1. When she a saw a rat in the kitchen, she creamed until her children rushed
downstairs.
2. My mother cleans the house at night even though she is old.
3. As it was getting late, he decided to board an aeroplane.
4. Evans was working when his daughter called.
5. I read it while you were drying your hair.
COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE
A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more
dependent clauses. A compound-complex sentence is a combination of compound sentence
and a complex sentence. This is the most complicated of all the sentence types because it
combines all of them.
Here are a few examples of compound-complex sentences, with the independent clauses in
bold whilst the dependent clauses are underlined.
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1. Constance does not like cartoons because they are loud, so she does not watch
them.
2. While she was waiting for her friend, she saw Mary and they talked.
3. Because they were poor, she was not able to attend a University and her brother
was not able to get married.
4. Although I like books, I do not like romance novels, but my sister loves them.
5. Benjamin sat in his chair, which was a dark red recliner, and he read a book of
short stories.
FUNCTIONS OF SENTENCES
Functionally, sentences are of mainly four types;
1. Declarative sentence
2. Imperative sentence
3. Interrogative sentence
4. Exclamatory sentence
DECLARATIVE SENTENCE
A declarative sentence makes a statement or declaration. We use declarative sentence to
express an idea or give information. This is the most common type of sentences. The subject
comes before the verb in a declarative sentence which always ends in a full stop.
Look at the following sentences.
1. I am very happy.
2. Joana goes to work every day.
3. He is an accomplished writer.
4. The Managing Director has paid the salaries of his workers.
5. Elizabeth is very beautiful lady.
IMPERATIVE SENTENCE
An imperative sentence gives an instruction or expresses a command or a request.
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The subject is not normally shown in an imperative sentence, while the verb used is always in
the base form; that is, a verb without any ending such as –s, –ed, or –ing. The implied subject
is understood to be you. An imperative sentences usually end in a full stop, but under certain
circumstances, it can end with an exclamation mark.
Look at the following examples.
1. Stop the work immediately!
2. Come at once!
3. Please sit down.
4. Answer four questions.
5. Please purchase me a mobile phone on your way home.
6. I need you to sit down now!
EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE
This type of sentence expresses an emotion and it usually ends with an exclamation mark.
This emotion can be of happiness, sorrow, surprise or anger.
Look at the following examples.
1. We thought you were not coming!
2. I won the chess game!
3. What a wonderful event this is!
4. What kind of a person he has turned to!
5. Wail! I am coming along.
6. We read how the children were treated. Shocking!
INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE
An interrogative sentence asks a question ends in a question mark. This distinguishes it
from other types of sentences. It is essential, at this point, to let you know that there are
various types of questions in English Language. We have the following questions which are
all forms of interrogative sentence.
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Polar or Yes/No Question
This type of question requires yes or no for an answer.
Look at the following examples.
1. Are those girls reading their books?
2. Is the sporting event ending today?
3. Was the English test difficult?
4. Will you come with me?
5. Were they around this morning?
6. Will you be around next week?
If we want to form a polar (Yes/No) question, we inverse the primary auxiliary verb such that
it takes the place of the subject.
Look at the following examples.
1. Those girls are reading their books.
Are those girls reading their books?
2. The sporting event is ending today.
Is the sporting event ending today?
WH Question
This type of question usually starts with the ‘wh’ element which we refer to as the ‘question
word’. An answer to this type of question cannot be ‘yes or no’ form like the polar question.
The voice pitch drops at the end of the question. In forming this type of question, the
question word comes first, the auxiliary verb follows, the subject comes next, then the main
verb and the other elements.
Look at the following examples.
1. What are you doing over there?
2. To whom did you give the letter?
3. Who can we get to help us?
4. Under what conditions have the prisoners been released?
5. Why have you been away from work?
6. When are we leaving this place?
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SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Agreements in sentences refer to the subjects agreeing with their verbs, and pronouns
agreeing with their antecedents. Another word for agreement in grammar is concord. We
need to know how various elements of the English sentence go together if we are to be
competent users of the English Language.
The subject and the verb of a sentence are in agreement when they have the same number and
person. If the subject is singular, the verb will be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb
will be plural.
RULES OF CONCORD
Pattern One
A singular subject requires a singular verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Tony reads his books regularly.
2. The novel is very interesting.
3. The man likes chocolate.
4. Naomi loves singing.
Pattern Two
A plural subject requires a plural verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. The novels are very interesting.
2. My children like chocolate and strawberry.
3. His clothes were dirty.
4. They eat rice every morning.
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Pattern Three
Compound subjects take plural verbs.
Look at the following examples.
1. Mark, Thomas and John are close friends.
2. The bride and her family are here.
3. The armed robbers and their leader were arrested.
4. Dickson and Paul do their homework in the evening.
However, there are exceptional cases to some of these patterns when it comes to the subject-
verb agreement. Let us consider some of these exceptions.
Exception One
If the conjunction ‘and’ is replaced by with, along with, together with, as well as, in
addition to, et cetera, the form of the verb is singular.
Look at the following examples.
1. The man with his wife is here.
2. Ernest, together with his sister, is attending the party.
3. The husband, as well as his wife, was arrested.
4. The goat, in addition to the cow, has disappeared.
Exception Two
When two nouns or two singular subjects refer to the same person or thing, we use a singular
verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. The owner and manager of the hostel is very friendly.
2. My neighbour and friend has been writing a letter for three hours.
3. Rice and beans is good for lunch.
4. The president and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces has arrived.
5. Peter’s fiend and boss is very handsome.
When two nouns refer to the same person, the definite article ‘the’ is used only once and the
verb is in singular.
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Let us look at these sentences–when two nouns refer two different people, the article ‘the’ is
repeated and the verb is in the plural form.
1. The nurse and sister of the patient cares deeply for him.
(Nurse and sister refer to the same person, so singular verb cares is used.)
2. The nurse and the sister of the patient are close friends.
(The nurse and the sister of the patient refer to two different people, so a plural verb
‘are’ is used.)
3. The owner and the manager of the hostel are very friendly.
(The owner and the manager refer to two different people, thus plural verb ‘are’ is
used.)
Exception Three
When we join a compound subject (two or more singular subjects) with any of these words;
or, either… or, neither… nor, not only… but also, et cetera, we use a singular verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Mensah or Anaba is going to the farm today.
2. Either Mensah or Anaba is to blame for every mistake in the report.
3. Not the husband but his wife was arrested for drink-driving.
4. Not only the teacher but also the head teacher likes talking too much.
However, when one of the subjects joined by any of the expressions or words differs in
number, the verb agrees in number with the nearer noun or subject.
Look at the following examples.
1. Neither the man nor his children were beaten at the party.
2. Neither the children nor their father was beaten at the party.
3. Not only Blay but also his friends were present at the wedding ceremony.
Exception Four
A singular subject which is followed by a plural modifier requires a singular verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. The reaction of the students was unexpected.
2. The leader of the armed robbers has been convicted of arson.
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3. A list of the successful applicants is already out.
Exception Five
Indefinite pronouns such as anybody, anyone, anything, each, nobody, on one, everybody,
everyone, everything, someone, nothing, one, something, are someone are always singular.
However, they take singular verbs.
Look at the following examples.
1. No one was exempted from the tax increase.
2. Everybody wants to live happily
3. Nobody has seen the missing boat.
4. No one is allowed to park his or her car here.
5. Neither of these statements is reliable.
6. Each student has to submit a separate assignment.
If you need to use a second pronoun or possessive adjective with the indefinite pronouns that
refer to people, you can use ‘he or she’ or you can use the genderless pronoun ‘they’.
Look at the following examples.
1. Everyone was present with his or her partner. OR
Everyone was present with their partner.
2. Somebody has called, but he or she has not left a message. OR
Somebody has called, but they have not left a message.
Note that in question tags, we only use the pronoun ‘they’.
1. Everyone was present, weren’t they?
2. Somebody has called, haven’t they?
With the indefinite pronoun ‘none’, in formal English, a singular verb is used. However, in
informal English, you may use a plural verb with countable nouns.
Look at the following examples.
1. None of the evidence is reliable.
2. None of the statements is/are reliable.
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Exception Six
Indefinite pronouns such as both, few, many, some, several are plural. Therefore, they
require plural verbs.
Look at the following examples.
1. Both my sisters are teachers.
2. Many of the students have contracted malaria.
3. Several of my friends are studying English Language at the University for
Development Studies.
4. Some have compared her work to Achebe’s.
Exception Seven
Plural numbers take a singular verb when we use them in a phrase to indicate a unit. An
amount regardless of how much it is, and measurement of weight and distance are followed
by a singular verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. The fifty cedis you lent me was not enough.
2. She said seventy kilograms was her weight.
3. Five kilograms of flour is enough for baking the cake.
4. Two million cedis is a huge amount of money to carry around.
5. Fifteen minutes is enough for a break.
6. Ten kilometres is a long distance to walk.
Exception Eight
The following nouns may look plural in form, but they require singular verbs.
Mathematics Physics Diabetes
Politics News Aerobics
Athletics Statistics Billiards
Look at the following sentences.
1. The news was very interesting.
2. Mathematics is a technical subject.
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3. Diabetes has become an epidemic.
Exception Nine
Collective nouns can take a singular verb or plural verb. When we consider the collective
noun as a unit, we use a singular verb. But we use a plural verb when we consider the
members of the group as individuals or when we see them acting individually.
Look at the following examples.
1. The jury is announcing its decision. (Singular)
2. The team is purchasing new uniforms. (Singular)
3. His family is quite large. (Singular)
4. His family have given him their full support. (Plural)
5. The congregation were divided in opinion about the pastor. (Plural)
If you use singular determiners such as a, this, that, every, and each, you must use a singular
verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Every family in this neighbourhood is Nigerian.
2. This team has already appointed its coach.
Exception Ten
Uncountable nouns such as information, advice, money, news, progress, work,
knowledge, evidence, traffic, equipment, furniture, luggage, takes a singular verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. Your advice has been very helpful.
2. The traffic is congested in this street.
3. Her knowledge of English grammar is very extensive.
4. Nkrumah’s work involves a lot of travelling.
5. Technological progress has been so rapid over the last few years.
6. The only furniture he has in his bedroom is a bed.
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UNIT 14
CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
A conditional sentence is a sentence that expresses a condition. A condition is something
that can only happen IF something else occurs. A conditional sentence contains an
independent clause and a dependent clause that always begins with the conjunction ‘if’. A
conditional sentence is only a conditional sentence if it has both of these parts.
TYPES OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
There are four main types of conditionals in English;
1. Zero conditional
2. First conditional
3. Second conditional
4. Third conditional
ZERO CONDITIONAL
The zero conditional is used to express a fact, something that is always true. The two parts
that make up the zero conditional sentence have the same tense–If + simple present + simple
present. The ‘if clause’ can be either the first or second part of the sentence.
Look at the following examples.
1. If it rains, things get wet.
2. If you touch a flame, you burn yourself.
3. If demand for a product rises, its price rises too.
4. It is easier to relax if you close your eyes.
Note that it is possible to use ‘when’ instead of ‘if’, because it is not a real conditional
sentence.
1. It is easier to relax when you close your eyes.
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2. When demand for a product rises, its price rises too.
FIRST CONDITIONAL
This conditional sentence shows the outcome or result if the condition is fulfilled. We use this
conditional sentence when the situation in the ‘if clause’ appears likely or there is a possibility
of it happening. The dependent clause begins with ‘if’ and uses the simple present tense. The
independent clause uses ‘will’ and the base form of a verb–If + present simple + will (do).
Look at the following examples.
1. If it rains, I will not play outside.
(If the condition in the ‘if clause’ is fulfilled, the action in the second clause will happen.)
2. If you go with me, I will pay your fare.
3. If I see him tomorrow, I will tell him the good news.
4. If the weather remains good, we will go to the beach.
SECOND CONDITIONAL
The second conditional sentence can express two ideas–It might express an imaginary
situation that is unlikely to happen now or in the future, and it can also express an idea that is
not true because it is absolutely impossible. The dependent clause begins with ‘if’ and uses
past simple tense. The independent clause uses ‘would’ and the base form of a verb.
Look at the following examples.
1. If she loved me, I would propose to her.
2. If I cooked like her, I would open a restaurant.
3. If he came, I would tell him.
4. If your father were alive, he would be very proud of you. (Absolutely impossible)
5. If I were younger, I would do things so differently. (Absolutely impossible)
6. If I were you, I would not leave tonight. (Absolutely impossible)
Note that the correct form of the verb ‘to be’ in second conditional sentence is ‘were’ for all
pronouns. It is used for something that is impossible to be fulfilled as it is not real and will
always remain unreal.
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THIRD CONDITIONAL
The third conditional sentence expresses a past idea that did not occur. This conditional
expresses an imagined result of that past event that did not happen. This unreal situation can
never happen, not now or ever. The dependent clause of the third conditional begins with ‘if’
and uses the past perfect aspect. The independent clause uses ‘would have’ and the past
participle form of a verb.
Illustration–If + past perfect (had done) + would have done
Look at the following examples.
1. If I had listened, I would have not got lost.
2. If I had seen her, I would have given her the money.
3. If anything had happened, we would have let you go.
4. I would have not let them in if they had been late.
5. If he had got up early, he would not have missed the bus.
6. If I had been a businessman, I would not have led a struggling life.
Special Case
Use of ‘would’ for politeness
1. If you follow me please, I will show you your room.
2. If you would follow me, I will show you your room. (Politeness)
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UNIT 15
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCE
In active sentence, the subject does the action whilst the object receives the action. The
sentence generally begins with the performer of the action (subject), then the verb, and the
object that that the action is performed on. This is also called the active voice. It follows the
pattern–subject + verb + object.
Look at the following examples.
1. Joyce washes dishes after dinner.
2. Kofi always goes to school.
3. Monica ate the food.
4. Peter washed the car.
5. Dominic teaches mathematics and science.
If we begin the sentence with the object that the action is performed on, we form a passive
sentence. This is also called passive voice. It follows the pattern–object + verb (+ subject).
Ways of forming Passive Sentence
1. Put the object of the verb at the following of the sentence.
2. Conjugate the verb ‘to be’ in the same tense as the active sentence.
3. Put the main verb in the past participle form.
4. If you want to mention the subject in the passive sentence, use the word ‘by’.
Look at the following examples.
1. The postman delivers the letters. (Active sentence)
The letters are delivered by the postman. (Passive sentence)
2. John is washing my car. (Active sentence)
My car is being washed by John. (Passive sentence)
3. Someone stole my book. (Active sentence)
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My book was stolen. (Passive sentence)
If the active sentence begins with ‘no one’ or ‘nobody’, the passive sentence will be negative.
4. No one turned on the light. (Active sentence)
The light was not turned on. (Passive sentence)
The Passive Sentence of different Tenses and Aspects
TENSE/ASPECT ACTIVE SENTENCE PASSIVE SENTENCE
Simple present I do it. It is done.
Simple past I did it. It was done.
Present progressive I am doing it. It is being done.
Past progressive I was doing it. It was being done.
Present perfect I have done it. It has been done.
Past perfect I had done it. It had been done.
Present perfect progressive I have been doing it. Not common in passive
Past perfect progressive I had been doing it. Not common in passive
Simple future I will do it. It will be done.
Future progressive I will be doing it. It will be being done.
Future perfect I will have done it. It will have been done.
Future perfect progressive I will have been doing it. Not common in passive
Look at the following examples.
1. Active sentence: The teacher teaches the students.
2. Passive sentence: The students are taught by the teacher.
3. Active sentence: The teacher will teach the students.
4. Passive sentence: The students will be taught by the teacher.
5. Active sentence: The teacher have taught the students.
6. Passive sentence: The students have been taught by the teacher
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The Passive Sentence of other structures
*Be going to
1. I am going to do it. (Active passive)
2. It is going to be done. (Passive passive)
*Modal verbs (can, may, et cetera)
1. I can do it. (Active sentence)
2. It can be done (Passive sentence)
*Some sentences have both direct and indirect objects in the object position. You can choose
either one to form to form the passive sentence.
Look at the following examples.
1. Someone gave me a book. (Active sentence)
I was given a book. (Passive sentence) OR
A book was given to me. (Passive sentence)
2. They sent us letters. (Active sentence)
We have been sent letters. (Passive sentence) OR
Letters have been sent to us. (Passive sentence)
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QUESTION TAGS
Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘tag’ as a phrase such as ‘he is’ or ‘isn’t it?’ added on to a
sentence for emphasis, or to turn it into a question, usually to get agreement or to check
information. Therefore, question tag is a short question added to the end of a statement to
change it into a question.
We add a question tag at the end of some statements to a get a response. There are a lot of
different question tags but the rules are not difficult to learn. The statement and the question
tag are always separated by a comma.
FORMULATION
*To make a question tag, use the same auxiliary verb found in the statement. If the statement
is in positive form, make a negative tag but if the statement is in negative form, make a
positive tag.
Look at the following examples.
1. They were very sad, weren’t they? (Positive statement and negative tag)
2. It is lunch time, isn’t it? (Positive statement and negative tag)
3. It isn’t raining, is it? (Negative statement and positive tag)
4. He was angry, wasn’t he? (Positive statement and negative tag)
5. We are late, aren’t we? (Positive statement and negative tag)
6. They weren’t eating, were they? (Negative statement and positive tag)
*Question tags on modals verbs
Look at the following examples.
1. You’ll be there, won’t you? (Positive statement and negative tag)
2. You won’t be there, will you? (Negative statement and positive tag)
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3. I can go, can’t I? (Positive statement and negative tag)
4. I can’t go, can I? (Negative statement and positive tag)
5. It could happen, couldn’t it? (Positive statement and negative tag)
6. It couldn’t happen, could it? (Negative statement and positive tag)
7. We should stay, shouldn’t we? (Positive statement and negative tag
8. We shouldn’t stay, should we? (Negative statement and positive tag)
9. She must learn, mustn’t she? (Positive statement and negative tag)
10. She mustn’t learn, must she? (Negative statement and positive tag)
*Present and past perfect aspects
1. They’ve finished the homework, haven’t they?
2. She’s done it, hasn’t she?
3. They haven’t finished the homework, have they?
4. She hasn’t done it, has she?
5. She hadn’t got a luxurious house, had she?
6. She had got a luxurious house, hadn’t she?
7. You have stopped smoking cigarette, haven’t you?
8. You haven’t stopped smoking cigarette, have you?
*If there is NO auxiliary verb in the statement, use DO, DOES, and DID.
Look at the following examples.
1. They live in Italy, don’t they?
2. They don’t live in Italy, do they?
3. He always smiles, doesn’t he?
4. He never smiles, does he?
5. It rained heavily yesterday, didn’t it?
6. It didn’t rain heavily yesterday, did it?
7. We seldom see our parents, do we?
8. We always see our parents, don’t we?
9. She sings well, doesn’t she?
10. She loves him, doesn’t she?
11. He hardly ever goes to concerts, does he?
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Note that the words seldom, never and hardly ever make negative statements; therefore,
they require positive tags.
SPECIAL TAGS
*If the statement is in imperative (giving an order or making a request), we use the tag ‘will
you’ whether the statement is in negative or positive.
Look at the following examples.
1. Change your clothes, will you?
2. Get the mobile phone for me, will you?
3. Don’t forget the letter please, will you?
4. Don’t be noisy, will you?
5. Open the window, will you?
*Making a suggestion with let’s (let us), use shall we?
Look at the following examples.
1. Let’s dance, shall we?
2. Let’s study together, shall we?
3. Let’s have dinner tonight, shall we?
4. Let’s not rush, shall we?
*If the statement uses ‘I am’, the tag should not be ‘am I not?’ It should be 'Aren’t I?’
Look at the following examples.
1. I am the head teacher of this school, aren’t I?
2. I am still the captain of Liverpool Football Club, aren’t I?
3. I am late, aren’t I?
*If the subject of the sentence is an indefinite pronoun (such as everybody, everyone,
somebody, et cetera), we use the subject ‘they’ in the question tag.
Look at the following examples.
1. Everyone loves her, don’t they?
2. Somebody entered our house last night, didn’t they?
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USAGE
How do we answer a tag question? Often, we just say Yes or No. Sometimes we may repeat
the tag and reverse it (They don’t live here, do they? Yes, they do). Be very careful answering
tag questions. In some languages, people answer a question like ‘the earth is not bigger than
the sun, isn’t it?’ with ‘Yes’ (meaning ‘Yes, I agree with you’). This is the wrong answer in
English!
Basically, to answer a tag question decide whether you agree or disagree with the positive
statement, or answer whether the positive statement part of the tag question is true or not
true.
Here are some examples, with correct answers.
1. The moon goes round the earth, doesn’t it? Yes, it does.
2. Monkeys cannot fly, can they? No, they can’t.
3. Fish can speak English, can’t they? No, they can’t.
4. The earth is bigger than the moon, isn’t it? Yes, it is.
5. The earth is bigger than the sun, isn’t it? No, it isn’t.
6. The English alphabet doesn’t have forty letters, does it? No, it doesn’t.
7. He is coming, doesn’t he? Yes, he is = No, he isn’t.
8. She works in a restaurant, doesn’t she? Yes, she does = No, she doesn’t.
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DETERMINERS
Determiners are words that introduce a noun and provide some information about it but do
not describe it. A determiner indicates whether the noun is referring to a definite or indefinite
component, to a component belonging to a definite person or thing, to a closer or more distant
component, to a particular number or quantity as they show how many things or people.
TYPES OF DETERMINERS
There are many types of determiners. These are; articles, quantifiers, possessive
determiners and numbers.
ARTICLES
Articles: It is the main group of determiners, with the words ‘a/an’ and ‘the’ which are used
before a noun. There are two kinds of article–definite article and indefinite article.
Definite article is the word ‘the’. It limits the meaning of a noun to a particular person or
thing. For example, your friend might ask, ‘Are you going to the party tonight?’ The definite
article tells you that your friend is referring to a specific party that both of you know about.
The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns.
Indefinite article indicates that a noun refers to a general idea rather than a particular thing.
The indefinite article only appears with singular nouns. There are two forms of indefinite
article–’a’ and ‘an’. We use the indefinite article ‘a’ before a noun that begins with a consonant
(a book, a cat, a girl, a house). We use the indefinite article ‘an’ before a noun that starts with
a vowel (an apple, an easy question, an interesting story, an orange).
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QUANTIFIERS
*Quantifiers: The words any, few, some, more, little, much, and less are followed by nouns
which they modify. Quantifiers are words which are used before a noun to show amount or
quantity. Quantifiers are used before countable and uncountable nouns.
Look at the following examples of quantifiers.
For Countable
nouns
For Uncountable
nouns
Both Countable and
Uncountable
A few A little A lot of
A small number of A small amount of Some
Many Much Any
A large number of A large amount of Enough
The quantifiers ‘much, little and a little’ are used before uncountable nouns. The quantifier
much means a large amount or quantity, and little refers to a small amount of something. The
quantifier a little means that there is not a lot of something, but there is enough.
Look at the following sentences.
1. I drank much water yesterday.
2. I ate a little rice last night.
3. Out teacher gave us much homework.
4. They have very little money.
The quantifiers ‘many, few and a few’ are used before countable nouns. The word many
means a large number of, and few means a small number. ‘A few’ is between the two–not
many and not few (a certain number).
Look at the following sentences.
1. There are a few cakes left over from the party.
2. Many people would disagree with your ideas.
3. Few students cannot read.
As the phonetic difference between ‘few’ and ‘a few’, and also ‘little’ and ‘a little’ is very
slight, in order to it make clear to the listener which one we are saying, we often add the
adverb ‘very’ to ‘little’ and ‘few’.
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Look at the following sentence.
? I usually eat very little rice, but I ate a little yesterday.
If you want to make an uncountable noun countable, you should use an appropriate unit of
measurement.
1. Much water Or many glasses of water
2. Much equipment Or many pieces of equipment
3. Much bread Or many slices of bread
If you do not want to worry about whether a noun is countable or uncountable, you can use
expressions that work for both groups. These are ‘a lot of’ and ‘some’.
Look at the following illustrative explanations.
1. ‘A lot of’ can replace ‘much’ or ‘many’.
2. ‘Some’ can replace ‘a little’ or ‘a few’.
Look at the following sentences.
1. She eats a lot of rice.
2. He earns a lot of money every month.
3. She has some sugar in her room.
4. She ate some rice last night.
5. A lot of students passed the mathematics test.
6. Some students failed the English examination.
POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS
Possessive determiners, also called possessive adjectives, are used to modify nouns to denote
possession or ownership. They take the place of the definite article ‘the’, and state whom or
what an item belongs to. Examples of possessive determiners are ‘my’, ‘our’, ‘his’, ‘her’,
‘your’, ‘their’ and ‘its’. We can also form possessive determiners from nouns by adding
apostrophe and’s’–Kofi’s, John’s, Faustina’s, et cetera.
Here are examples of possessive determiners used in sentences, with the possessive
determiners in bold.
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1. Daniel’s car is so expensive.
2. Peter’s wife was arrested by the police in the morning.
3. Please return my books as soon as possible.
4. The Earth spins on its invisible axis.
5. His shirt is very nice.
Possessive determiners are often confused with possessive personal pronouns (mine,
yours, hers, his, its, ours, theirs.) Although some of the forms overlap, there are important
distinctions between the two types of possessives. While the possessive pronouns can stand
on their own, taking the place of a noun, possessive determiners cannot.
Look at the following examples.
1. My friend is going to the market. (possessive determiner; modifies the noun friend)
2. A friend of mine is going to the market. (possessive pronoun)
3. Her dress is very beautiful. (possessive determiner; modifies the noun dress)
4. This beautiful dress is hers. (possessive pronoun)
5. He put his bag on the table. (possessive determiner; modifies the noun bag)
6. This bag is his. (pronoun pronoun)
DEMONSTRATIVE
The words ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, and ‘that’ are called demonstratives. They tell us whether an
object is close to us, or far away. You can use these words (‘that’, ‘these’, ‘this’, and ‘that’) to
modify a noun or to replace a noun. If they modify a noun, they are called demonstrative
determiners. If they replace a noun, they are called demonstrative pronouns.
Look at the following examples.
1. This is my book. (demonstrative pronoun)
2. This book is mine. (demonstrative determiner)
3. I like that film. (demonstrative determiner)
4. I like those flowers. (demonstrative determiner)
5. Those ladies are very beautiful. (demonstrative determiner)
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NUMBERS
Numbers are determiners when they appear before a noun. In this position, cardinal
numbers express quantity.
Look at the following examples.
1. I have three books.
2. She was given five laptops.
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DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH
English language has two ways to narrate the spoken-words of a person. These two ways are
as follows:
1. Direct speech
2. Indirect speech
These two ways are usually used to convey a message (spoken-words) of one person to
another person. For example, you are at your school. Mr Essien, who is your teacher, says to
you, “I want to meet your parents”. When you get home, you will inform your parents in the
following ways.
? Direct speech: Mr Essien said, “I want to meet your parents”.
? Indirect speech: Mr Essien said that he wanted to meet my parents.
In direct speech, the actual words (with no change) of the speaker is quoted. The exact words
of the speaker are enclosed in quotation marks or invented commas. There is always a colon
after “said” that introduces the spoken words. Direct speech is when we report what
someone says by repeating the exact words.
Look at the following examples.
1. She said, “I am going to the market”.
2. Mr Ackah said, “I bought a book for you”.
In indirect speech, the exact words of the speaker are changed. The reason for change in the
actual words is that the actual words have been spoken by the speaker in the past, hence
narrating it in the present will require change in the tense of the actual words. The pronouns
of the sentence are also changed accordingly.
Indirect speech (also called reported speech) is when we give the same meaning of what
someone says without repeating the exact words. The words of the speaker are not enclosed
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in quotation marks or invented commas. The word ‘that’ will be used before the spoken-words
of the speaker.
Look at the following examples.
1. Direct speech: She said, “I am going to the market”.
2. Indirect speech: She said that she was going to the market.
3. Direct speech: Mr Ackah said, “I bought a book for you”.
4. Indirect speech: Mr Ackah said that he had bought a book for me.
Note that the verb ‘said’ used before the actual words of the speaker is called a reporting verb.
BASIC RULES FOR INDIRECT SPEECH
Change in Tense and Aspect in Indirect Speech
Present simple tense changes into simple past tense
? Direct speech: She said, “I work in a hospital”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she worked in a hospital.
Present progressive aspect changes into past progressive aspect
? Direct speech: She said, “I am eating rice”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she was eating rice.
Present perfect aspect changes into past perfect aspect
? Direct speech: He said, “He has washed the car”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he had washed.
Present perfect progressive changes into past perfect progressive
? Direct speech: He said, “He has been waiting for three hours”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he had been waiting for three hours.
Simple past tense changes into past perfect aspect
? Direct speech: He said, “I bought a new motorcycle”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he had bought a new motorcycle.
Past progressive aspect changes into past perfect progressive
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? Direct speech: She said, “I was watching a film”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she had been watching a film.
*Past perfect aspect (the aspect remains unchanged)
*Past perfect progressive aspect (the aspect remains unchanged)
Future simple (will) changes into “would”
? Direct speech: He said, “I will leave for Half Assini”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he would leave for Half Assini.
Future progressive (will be) changes into “would be”
? Direct speech: He said, “I will be waiting for you”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he would be waiting for me.
Future perfect (will have) changes into “would have”
? Direct speech: She said, “I will have cleaned the room”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she would have cleaned the room.
Future perfect progressive (will have been) changes into “would have been”
? Direct speech: She said, “I will have been cleaning the room”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she would have been cleaning the room.
Change in Time and Place expressions in the Indirect Speech
? Today changes into that day or the same day.
? Tomorrow changes into next day or the following day.
? Yesterday changes into the day before or the previous day.
? This week or month or year changes into that or same week or month or year.
? Next week or month or year changes into the following week or month or year.
? Last week or month or year changes into the previous week or month or year.
? Ago changes into before.
? Here changes into there.
? Now or just changes into then.
? Hence changes into thence.
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? This changes into that.
? These changes into those.
Look at the following examples.
? Direct speech: He said, “I will leave for Axim tomorrow”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he would leave for Axim the next day.
? Direct speech: Matthew said, “I am busy today”.
? Indirect speech: Matthew said that he was busy that day.
? Direct speech: She said, “I met my friend the last week”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she had met her friend the following week.
? Direct speech: The head teacher said, “The students will come here”.
? Indirect speech: The head teacher said that the students would come there.
Change in pronoun in Indirect Speech.
First person pronouns in the direct speech change according to the subject of the reporting
verb in the indirect speech.
? Direct speech: He said, “I am busy”.
? Indirect speech: He said that he was busy.
? Direct speech: She said, “I am learning”.
? Indirect speech: She said that she was learning.
? Direct speech: I said, “I will eat rice”.
? Indirect speech: I said that I would eat rice.
? Direct speech: They said, “We will not eat rice”.
? Indirect speech: They said that they would not eat rice.
? Direct speech: We said, “We need to purchase some cars”.
? Indirect speech: We said that we needed to purchase some cars.
Second person pronouns in the direct speech change according to the object of the reporting
verb in the indirect speech.
? Direct speech: He said to me, “You are a brilliant student”.
? Indirect speech: He told me that I was a brilliant student.
? Direct speech: She said to me, “You can go to the theatre”.
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? Indirect speech: She told me that I could go to the theatre.
? Direct speech: She said to him, “You can eat the food”.
? Indirect speech: She told him that he could eat the food.
? Direct speech: She said to them, “Your shirts are beautiful”.
? Indirect speech: She told them that their shirts were beautiful.
Third person pronouns in the direct speech will not change in the indirect speech.
? Direct speech: She said, “He is a handsome man”.
? Indirect speech: She said that he was a handsome man.
? Direct speech: He said, “They have invited us”.
? Indirect speech: He said that they had invited us.
? Direct speech: They said, she does not have the necessary certificate.
? Indirect speech: They said that she did not have the necessary certificate.
Indirect Speech for questions sentences
The basic rules for converting direct speech (question sentences) into indirect speech are as
follows:
1. The conjunction “that” will not be used in the indirect speech (in question sentences).
2. In indirect speech, the question sentence will be expressed in positive form instead of
interrogative form.
3. Question mark (?) will not be used in indirect speech of interrogative sentence.
4. The verb “say” (e.g. he said) in direct speech will be replaced with the verb “ask”
(e.g. he asked).
“Yes/No” Questions
To make indirect of such questions, the word “if” or “whether” will be used in the indirect
speech. Both the words “if” and “whether” can be used interchangeably.
? Direct speech: Daniel said to me, “Do you have a motorcycle?”
? Indirect speech: Daniel asked me if I had a motorcycle.
? Direct speech: She said to me, “Will you eat the food?”
? Indirect speech: She asked me if I would eat the food.
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? Direct speech: He said to me, “Did you find your book?”
? Indirect speech: He asked me if I had found my book.
? Direct speech: Joana said to him, “Will you attend the party?”
? Indirect speech: Joana asked him whether he would attend the party.
? Direct speech: He said, “Are they waiting for me?”
? Indirect speech: He asked whether they were waiting for him.
Questions that cannot be answered with only “Yes/No”
To make indirect speech of such questions, the word “if” or “whether” will not be used. The
question is changed into positive form and is simply placed after the reporting verb.
? Direct speech: He said to me, “What are you reading?”
? Indirect speech: He asked me what I was reading.
? Direct speech: She said to me, “What is your name?”
? Indirect speech: She asked me what my name was.
? Direct speech: Faustina said to me, How are you?
? Indirect speech: Faustina asked me how I was.
? Direct speech: They said to me, “Where did you go?”
? Indirect speech: They asked me where I had gone.
? Direct speech: I said to him, “What were you reading?”
? Indirect speech: I asked him what he had been reading.
? Direct speech: The head teacher said to her, “Why did you fail the class test?”
? Indirect speech: The head teacher asked her why she had failed the class test.
? Direct speech: Mensah said, “How can I purchase a car?”
? Indirect speech: Mensah asked how he could purchase a car.
