Module 01 Grammar & Vocabulary

Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Tenses, Idioms, Punctuations

Definition
A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that
name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle
East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always
capitalized. A proper noun used as an addressed person's name is called a noun of address. Common nouns name
everything else, things that usually are not capitalized.
A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. A Noun Clause contains a
subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:
What he does for this town is a blessing.
A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting as a noun: the oil
depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose.
There is a separate section on word combinations that become Compound Nouns such as daughter-in-law,
half-moon, and stick-in-the-mud.
Categories of Nouns
Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted (four books, two
continents, a few dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns(or non-count nouns), which name something that can't Be
counted (water, air, energy, blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more
than one individual person or items (jury, team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can be
either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence:
a.
b.
c.
d.

He got into trouble. (non-count)

He had many troubles. (countable)
Experience (non-count) is the best teacher.
We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.

Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used with articles and
determiners or not. (We would not write "He got into thetroubles," but we could write about "The troubles of
Ireland."
Some texts will include the category of abstract nouns, by which we mean the kind of word that is not
tangible, such as warmth, justice, grief, and peace. Abstract nouns are sometimes troublesome for non-native writers
because they can appear with determiners or without: "Peace settled over the countryside." "The skirmish

disruptedthe peace that had settled over the countryside." See the section on Plurals for additional help
with collective nouns, words that can be singular or plural, depending on context.
Forms of Nouns
Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word case defines the role of the noun in
the sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?

The English professor [subject] is tall.

He chose the English professor [object].
The English professor's [possessive] car is green.

Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive, however, take a different
form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s (except for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending
first, and then add the apostrophe). See the section on Possessives for help with possessive forms. There is also
a table outlining the cases of nouns and pronouns.
Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition of an -s or -es.
Unfortunately, it's not always that easy, and a separate section on Plurals offers advice on the formation of plural
noun forms.
Assaying for Nouns*
Back in the gold rush days, every little town in the American Old West had an assayer's office, a place where
wild-eyed prospectors could take their bags of ore for official testing, to make sure the shiny stuff they'd found was
the real thing, not "fool's gold." We offer here some assay tests for nouns. There are two kinds of tests: formal and
functional what a word looks like (the endings it takes) and how a word behaves in a sentence.

Formal Tests
1. Does the word contain a noun-making morpheme? organization, misconception,
weirdness, statehood, government, democracy, philistinism, realtor, tenacity,
violinist
2. Can the word take a plural-making morpheme? pencils, boxes
3. Can the word take a possessive-making morpheme? today's, boys'
Function Tests
4.
5.

Testing the Tests:

Without modifiers, can the word directly follow an article and create a grammatical
unit (subject, object, etc.)? the state, an apple, a crate
Can it fill the slot in the following sentence: "(The) _________ seem(s) all right." (or
substitute other predicates such as unacceptable, short, dark, depending on the word's
meaning)?

With most nouns, the test is clear. "State," for example, can be a plural ("states"), become a possessive
("state's"), follow an article ("a/the state"), and fit in the slot ("the state seems all right"). It doesn't have a nounmaking morpheme, but it passes all the other tests; it can pass as a noun. (The fact that "state" can also be a verb
"We state our case" is not relevant.) "Greyness" cannot take plural ending nor can it be possessive, but it does
contain a noun-making morphene and it can follow an article and fit in the slot sentence. Can the word "grey,"
which is obviously also an adjective, be a noun? It's hard to imagine it passing any of the formal tests, but it can
follow an article and fill the slot: "The grey seems acceptable." And what about "running," which is often part of a
verb (He is running for office)? Again, it won't pass the formal tests, but it will fit the slot sentence: "Running is all
right." (It can also follow an article, but in rather an odd way: "The running is about to begin.") "Grey" and
"running" are nouns, but just barely: one is an adjective acting like a noun, and the other is a verb acting like a noun
(a gerund).
Additional Help With Nouns
A simple exercise in Naming Nouns will help answer any questions you might have about count and noncount nouns and help you distinguish between plural and singular forms.
The categories of count and non-count nouns can be confusing, however, and we suggest further review,
especially for writers for whom English is a second language. The second section we offer is called Count and
Non-Count, a basic review of those concepts and their uses in sentences, with many examples. Third, we
offer WORKING WITH NOUNS, a more extensive (and somewhat more advanced) review of the count and noncount distinction, along with exercises. Finally, just when you thought you couldn't stand such riches, we suggest
you review the uses of Articles, Determiners, and Quantifiers with count and non-count nouns.
Plural of Nouns
The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter s.

more than one snake = snakes

more than one ski = skis
more than one Barrymore = Barrymores

Words that end in -ch, x, s or s-like sounds, however, will require an -es for the plural:

more than one witch = witches

more than one box = boxes
more than one gas = gases
more than one bus = buses
more than one kiss = kisses
more than one Jones = Joneses

Note that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is because the plural
"buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the
preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."
There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes
called mutated (or mutating) plurals.

more than one child = children

more than one woman = women
more than one man = men
more than one person = people
more than one goose = geese
more than one mouse = mice
more than one barracks = barracks
more than one deer = deer

And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See media and data and
alumni, below.)

more than one nucleus = nuclei

more than one syllabus = syllabi
more than one focus = foci
more than one fungus = fungi
more than one cactus = cacti (cactuses is acceptable)
more than one thesis = theses
more than one crisis = crises*
more than one phenomenon = phenomena
more than one index = indices (indexes is acceptable)
more than one appendix = appendices (appendixes is acceptable)
more than one criterion = criteria

*Note the pronunciation of this word, crises: the second syllable sounds like ease. More than one base in the game
of baseball is bases, but more than one basis for an argument, say, is also bases, and then we pronounce the word
basease.
A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:

The news is bad.

Gymnastics is fun to watch.
Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult. ("Economics" can sometimes be a plural
concept, as in "The economics of the situation demand that . . . .")

Numerical expressions are usually singular, but can be plural if the individuals within a numerical group are
acting individually:

Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.

One-half of the faculty is retiring this summer.

One-half of the faculty have doctorates.
Fifty percent of the students have voted already.

And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and always use a
plural verb:

My pants are torn. (Nowadays you will sometimes see this word as a singular "pant" [meaning one
pair of pants] especially in clothing ads, but most writers would regard that as an affectation.)
Her scissors were stolen.
The glasses have slipped down his nose again.

When a noun names the title of something or is a word being used as a word, it is singular whether the word
takes a singular form or not.

Faces is the name of the new restaurant downtown.

Okies, which most people regard as a disparaging word, was first used to describe the residents of
Oklahoma during the 1930s.
Chelmsley Brothers is the best moving company in town.
Postcards is my favorite novel.
The term Okies was used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s. (In this sentence,
the word Okies is actually an appositive for the singular subject, "term.")

Plural Compound Nouns

Compound words create special problems when we need to pluralize them. As a general rule, the element
within the compound that word that is pluralized will receive the plural -s, but it's not always that
simple. Daughters-in-law follows the general rule, but cupfuls does not. See the special section on Compound
Nouns and Modifiers or, better yet, a good dictionary, for additional help.
Problem Children
Many careful writers insist that the words data and media are Latin plurals and must, therefore, be used as
plural words. The singular Latin forms of these words, however, are seldom used: datum as a single bit of
information or medium as a single means of communication. Many authorities nowadays approve sentences like My
data is lost. and The media is out to get the President. Even textbooks in computer science are beginning to use
"data" as a singular.
Alumni and alumnae remain problematic. The plural of masculine singular alumnus is alumni; the plural of
feminine singular alumna is alumnae. In traditional Latin, the masculine plural form, alumni,could include both
genders. This does not go over well with some female alums. We note, furthermore, that Vassar College, which now
has both, has lists of alumni and alumnae. Hartford College for Women, we assume, has only alumnae. In its

publication style manual, Wesleyan University approves of alumni/ae. The genderless graduate and the truncated
and informal alum have much to commend them.
Special Cases
With words that end in a consonant and a y, you'll need to change the y to an i and add es.

more than one baby = babies

more than one gallery = galleries
(Notice the difference between this and galleys, where the final y is not preceded by a consonant.)
more than one reality = realities
This rule does not apply to proper nouns:
more than one Kennedy = Kennedys

Words that end in o create special problems.

more than one potato = potatoes

more than one hero = heroes
. . . however . . .
more than one memo = memos
more than one cello = cellos
. . . and for words where another vowel comes before the o . . .
more than one stereo = stereos

Plurals of words that end in -f or -fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es.

more than one knife = knives

more than one leaf = leaves
more than one hoof = hooves
more than one life = lives
more than one self = selves
more than one elf = elves

There are, however, exceptions:

more than one dwarf = dwarfs

more than one roof = roofs

When in doubt, as always, consult a dictionary. Some dictionaries, for instance, will list
both wharfs and wharves as acceptable plural forms of wharf. It makes for good arguments when you're playing
Scrabble. The online version of Merriam-Webster's WWWebster Dictionary should help.
Collective Nouns, Company Names,
Family Names, Sports Teams

There are, further, so called collective nouns, which are singular when we think of them as groups and plural
when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens sometimes, but not often).
audience
band
class
committee
crowd
dozen

family
flock
group
heap
herd
jury

kind
lot
[the] number
public
staff
team

Thus, if we're talking about eggs, we could say "A dozen is probably not enough." But if we're talking
partying with our friends, we could say, "A dozen are coming over this afternoon." The jury delivers its verdict.
[But] The jury came in and took their seats. We could say the Tokyo String Quartet is one of the best string
ensembles in the world, but we could say the Beatles were some of the most famous singers in history. Generally,
band names and musical groups take singular or plural verbs depending on the form of their names: "The Mamas
and the Papas were one of the best groups of the 70s" and "Metallica is my favorite band."
Note that "the number" is a singular collective noun. "The number of applicants is steadily increasing."
"A number," on the other hand, is a plural form: "There are several students in the lobby. A numberare here to see
the president."
Collective nouns are count nouns which means they, themselves, can be pluralized: a university has several
athletic teams and classes. And the immigrant families kept watch over their herds and flocks.
The word following the phrase one of the (as an object of the preposition of) will always be plural.

One of the reasons we do this is that it rains a lot in spring.

One of the students in this room is responsible.

Notice, though, that the verb ("is") agrees with one, which is singular, and not with the object of the preposition,
which is always plural.
When a family name (a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So we go to visit the
Smiths, the Kennedys, the Grays, etc.When a family name ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z,however, we form the plural by
added -es, as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Do not form a family name
plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms.
When a proper noun ends in an "s" with a hard "z" sound, we don't add any ending to form the plural: "The
Chambers are coming to dinner" (not the Chamberses); "The Hodges used to live here" (not the Hodgeses). There
are exceptions even to this: we say "The Joneses are coming over," and we'd probably write "The Stevenses are
coming, too." A modest proposal: women whose last names end in "s" (pronounced "z") should marry and take the
names of men whose last names do not end with that sound, and eventually this problem will disappear.

The names of companies and other organizations are usually regarded as singular, regardless of their
ending: "General Motors has announced its fall lineup of new vehicles." Try to avoid the inconsistency that is almost
inevitable when you think of corporate entities as a group of individuals: "General Motors has announced their fall
lineup of new vehicles." But note that some inconsistency is acceptable in all but the most formal writing: "Ford has
announced its breakup with Firestone Tires. Their cars will no longer use tires built by Firestone." Some writers will
use a plural verb when a plural construction such as "Associates" is part of the company's title or when the title
consists of a series of names: "Upton, Vernon, and Gridley are moving to new law offices next week" or "Shadrach,
Meshach, Abednego & Associates have won all their cases this year." Singular verbs and pronouns would be correct
in those sentences, also.
The names of sports teams, on the other hand, are treated as plurals, regardless of the form of that name. We
would write that "The Yankees have signed a new third baseman" and "The Yankees area great organization" (even
if we're Red Sox fans) and that "For two years in a row, the Utah Jazz have attempted to draft a big man." When we
refer to a team by the city in which it resides, however, we use the singular, as in "Dallas has attempted to secure the
services of two assistant coaches that Green Bay hopes to keep." (This is decidedly not a British practice. In the UK,
the city or country names by which British newspapers refer to soccer teams, for example, are used as plurals a
practice that seems odd and inconsistent to American ears: "A minute's silence will precede the game at Le Stadium
today, when Toulouse play Munster, and tomorrow at Lansdowne Road, when Leinster attempt to reach their first
European final by beating Perpignan" [report in the online London Times].)
In a rare dictum-making mood, William Safire (in No Uncertain Terms, 2003) declares that pluralized names like
Packers and Yankees should take plural verbs (obviously), but that team names like the Jazz, the Heat, the
Lightning, the Connecticut Sun should take singular verbs. This dictum seems to prevail in Safire's ownNew York
Times: "The [Miami] Heat, typical of its resilience at home, was far from through. " But just about everywhere else
in the world of sports reporting, this is not the case. Even in the Times, an AP report asserts that "The Heat, down 20 in the East Conference semifinal series, have won 16 straight home games." The Boston Globe says that "the [New
England] Revolution are reestablishing their reputation for resourcefulness and spirited play." and "the Heat were in
it in the first half." TheHartford Courant writes that "When the Connecticut Sun play an exhibition game tonight in
Houston, coach Mike Thibault will have two more players." Finally, NBA Media Ventures writes that "The Utah
Jazz were expected to follow the rebuilding mode ." [All quotations are from May 10th and 20th, 2004, online
sources.)
Plurals and Apostrophes
We use an apostrophe to create plural forms in two limited situations: for pluralized letters of the alphabet
and when we are trying to create the plural form of a word that refers to the word itself. Here we also should italicize
this "word as word," but not the 's ending that belongs to it. Do not use the apostrophe+s to create the plural of
acronyms (pronounceable abbreviations such as laser and IRA and URL*) and other abbreviations. (A possible
exception to this last rule is an acronym that ends in "S": "We filed four NOS's in that folder.")

Jeffrey got four A's on his last report card.

Towanda learned very quickly to mind her p's and q's.
You have fifteen and's in that last paragraph.

Notice that we do not use an apostrophe -s to create the plural of a word-in-itself. For instance, we would refer to the
"ins and outs" of a mystery, the "yeses and nos" of a vote (NYPL Writer's Guide to Style and Usage), and we
assume that Theodore Bernstein knew what he was talking about in his book Dos, Don'ts & Maybes of English
Usage. We would also write "The shortstop made two spectacular outs in that inning." But when we refer to a wordas-a-word, we first italicize it I pointed out the use of the word out in that sentence. and if necessary, we
pluralize it by adding the unitalicized apostrophe -s "In his essay on prepositions, Jose used an astonishing three
dozen out's." This practice is not universally followed, and in newspapers, you would find our example sentence
written without italics or apostrophe: "You have fifteen ands in that last paragraph."
Some abbreviations have embedded plural forms, and there are often inconsistencies in creating the plurals of
these words. The speed of an internal combustion engine is measured in "revolutions per minute" or rpm (lower
case) and the efficiency of an automobile is reported in "miles per gallon" or mpg (no "-s" endings). On the other
hand, baseball players love to accumulate "runs batted in," a statistic that is usually reported as RBIs (although it
would not be terribly unusual to hear that someone got 100 RBI last year and some baseball commentators will
talk about "ribbies," too). Also, the U.S. military provides "meals ready to eat" and those rations are usually
described as MREs (not MRE). When an abbreviation can be used to refer to a singular thing a run batted in, a
meal ready-to-eat, a prisoner of war it's surely a good idea to form the plural by adding "s" to the abbreviation:
RBIs, MREs, POWs. (Notice that no apostrophe is involved in the formation of these plurals. Whether abbreviations
like these are formed with upper- or lower-case letters is a matter of great mystery; only your dictionary editor
knows for sure.)
Notice, furthermore, that we do not use an apostrophe to create plurals in the following:

The 1890s in Europe are widely regarded as years of social decadence.

I have prepared 1099s for the entire staff.
Rosa and her brother have identical IQs, and they both have PhDs from Harvard.
She has over 400 URLs* in her bookmark file.

Authority for this last paragraph: Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook by Ann Raimes. Houghton Mifflin: New
York. 1996.
Singular Subjects, Plural Predicates, etc.
We frequently run into a situation in which a singular subject is linked to a plural predicate:

My favorite breakfast is cereal with fruit, milk, orange juice, and toast.

Sometimes, too, a plural subject can be linked to singular predicate:

Mistakes in parallelism are the only problem here.

In such situations, remember that the number (singular or plural) of the subject, not the predicate, determines the
number of the verb. See the section on Subject-Verb Agreement for further help.

A special situation exists when a subject seems not to agree with its predicate. For instance, when we want
each student to see his or her counselor (and each student is assigned to only one counselor), but we want to avoid
that "his or her" construction by pluralizing, do we say "Students must see their counselors" or "Students must see
their counselor"? The singular counselor is necesssary to avoid the implication that students have more than one
counselor apiece. Do we say "Many sons dislike their father or fathers"? We don't mean to suggest that the sons
have more than one father, so we use the singular father. Theodore Bernstein, in Dos, Don'ts and Maybes of English
Usage, says that "Idiomatically the noun applying to more than one person remains in the singular when (a) it
represents a quality or thing possessed in common ("The audience's curiosity was aroused"); or (b) it is an
abstraction ("The judges applied their reason to the problem"), or (c) it is a figurative word ("All ten children had a
sweet tooth") (203). Sometimes good sense will have to guide you. We might want to say "Puzzled, the children
scratched their head" to avoid the image of multi-headed children, but "The audience rose to their foot" is plainly
ridiculous and about to tip over.
In "The boys moved their car/cars," the plural would indicate that each boy owned a car, the singular that the
boys (together) owned one car (which is quite possible). It is also possible that each boy owned more than one car.
Be prepared for such situations, and consider carefully the implications of using either the singular or the plural.
You might have to avoid the problem by going the opposite direction of pluralizing: moving things to the singular
and talking about what each boy did.
COMPOUNDS
Definition
In English, words, particularly adjectives and nouns, are combined into compound structures in a variety of
ways. And once they are formed, they sometimes metamorphose over time. A common pattern is that two words
fire fly, say will be joined by a hyphen for a time fire-fly and then be joined into one word firefly. In
this respect, a language like German, in which words are happily and immediately linked one to the other, might
seem to have an advantage. There is only one sure way to know how to spell compounds in English: use an
authoritative dictionary.
There are three forms of compound words:
the closed form, in which the words are melded together, such as firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike,
crosstown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook;
the hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, six-pack, six-year-old,
mass-produced;
and the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general.
How a word modified by an adjective "a little school," "the yellow butter" is different from a compound word
" a high school," "the peanut butter" is a nice and philosophical question. It clearly has something to do with
the degree to which the preceding word changes the essential character of the noun, the degree to which the modifier
and the noun are inseparable. If you werediagramming a sentence with a compound word, you would probably
keep the words together, on the same horizontal line.

Modifying compounds are often hyphenated to avoid confusion. The New York Public Library's Writer's
Guide points out that an old-furniture salesman clearly deals in old furniture, but an old furniture salesman would be
an old man. We probably would not have the same ambiguity, however, about a used car dealer. When compounded
modifiers precede a noun, they are often hyphenated: part-time teacher, fifty-yard-wide field, fire-resistant curtains,
high-speed chase. When those same modifying words come after the noun, however, they are not hyphenated: a
field fifty yards wide, curtains that are fire resistant, etc. The second-rate opera company gave a performance that
was first rate.
Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives are hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers: the
highest-priced car, the shorter-term loan. But this is not always the case: the most talented youngster. Adverbs,
words ending in -ly, are not hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers: a highly rated bank, a partially
refunded ticket, publicly held securities.
Sometimes hyphenated modifiers lose their hyphens when they become compound nouns: A clear decisionmaking process was evident in their decision making. The bluish grey was slowly disappearing from the bluish-grey
sky. This is not always so, however: your high-rise apartment building is also known as a high-rise.
When modifying a person with his or her age, the compounded phrase is hyphenated: my six-year-old son.
However, when the age comes after the person, we don't use a hyphen. My son is six years old. He is, however, a
six-year-old.
Plurals and Possessives
Most dictionaries will give variant spellings of compound plurals. When you have more than one truck filled
with sand, do you have several truckfuls or trucksful? The dictionary will give you both, with the first spelling
usually preferred. (And the same is true of teaspoonfuls, cupfuls, etc.) The dictionary will help you discover that
only one spelling is acceptable for some compounds like passersby.
For hyphenated forms, the pluralizing -s is usually attached to the element that is actually being pluralized:
daughters-in-law, half-moons, mayors-elect. The Chicago Manual of Style says that "hyphenated and open
compounds are regularly made plural by the addition of the plural inflection to the element that is subject to the
change in number" and gives as examples "fathers-in-law," "sergeants-in-arms," "doctors of philosophy," "and
courts-martial" (196). The NYPL Writer's Guide puts it this way: "the most significant word generally the noun
takes the plural form. The significant word may be at the beginning, middle, or end of the term" (396). And then
we get examples such as "attorneys at law," "bills of fare," chiefs of staff," notaries public," assistant attorneys
general," "higher-ups," "also-rans," and "go-betweens."
Note: some dictionaries will list "attorney generals" along with "attorneys general" as acceptable plurals of
that office. Whether that's a matter of caving in to popular usage or an inability to determine the "significant word"
is unknown.

As a general rule, then, the plural form of an element in a hierarchical term belongs to the base element in the
term, regardless of the base element's placement:

first sergeants
sergeants major
sergeants first class
colonel generals [Russian]
lieutenant generals
lieutenant colonels
apprentice, journeyman, and master mechanics
deputy librarians
deputy assistant secretaries of state

The possessive of a hyphenated compound is created by attaching an apostrophe -s to the end of the compound
itself: my daughter-in-law's car, a friend of mine's car. To create the possessive of pluralized and compounded
forms, a writer is wise to avoid the apostrophe -s form and use an "of" phrase (the "post genitive") instead: the
meeting of the daughters-in-law, the schedule of half-moons. Otherwise, the possessive form becomes downright
weird: the daughters-in-law's meeting, friends of mine's cars.
One of the most difficult decisions to make about possessives and plurals of compound words occurs when
you can't decide whether the first noun in a compound structure is acting as a noun that ought to be showing
possession or as what is called an attributive noun, essentially an adjective. In other words, do we write that I am
going to a writers conference or to a writers' conference? The Chicago Style Manual suggests that if singular nouns
can act as attributive nouns city government, tax relief then plural nouns should be able to act as attributive
nouns: consumers group, teachers union. This principle is not universally endorsed, however, and writers must
remember to be consistent within a document.
This section does not speak to the matter of compounded nouns such as "Professor Villa's and Professor
Darling's classes have been filled." See the section on Possessives for additional help.
Compounds with Prefixes
With a handful of exceptions, compounds created by the addition of a prefix are not hyphenated:
anteroom, antisocial, binomial, biochemistry, coordinate, counterclockwise, extraordinary, infrastructure,
interrelated, intramural, macroeconomics, metaphysical, microeconomics, midtown, minibike, multicultural,
neoromantic, nonviolent, overanxious, postwar, preconference, pseudointellectual, reunify, semiconductor,
socioeconomic, subpar, supertanker, transatlantic, unnatural, underdeveloped
Exceptions include
compounds in which the second element is capitalized or a number:
anti-Semitic, pre-1998, post-Freudian
compounds which need hyphens to avoid confusion
un-ionized (as distinguished from unionized), co-op
compounds in which a vowel would be repeated (especially to avoid confusion)
co-op, semi-independent, anti-intellectual (but reestablish, reedit)
compounds consisting of more than one word

non-English-speaking, pre-Civil War

compounds that would be difficult to read without a hyphen
pro-life, pro-choice, co-edited
Also, when we combine compound nouns, we would use a hyphen with the first, but not the last: when under- and
overdeveloped nations get together. . . .
Spelling
The following table presents a mini-dictionary of compound modifiers and nouns. Perhaps the best use of a
very partial inventory like this is to suggest the kinds of words that a writer would be wise either to memorize or to
be at least wary of. It is sometimes enough to know when we should get the dictionary off the shelf.
2-year education
one-week vacation
A-frame
African American
Air Force
all-city tournament
attorney general
blood pressure
blue-green dress
bull's-eye
database
daughter-in-law
English-speaking person
ex-wife
first-rate accommodations
football
grandmother
grant-in-aid
great-aunt

half sister
high-level officials
I-beam
Italian-American
Italian-American club
jack-in-the-box
lifelike
light year
mayor-elect
salesperson
secretary-treasurer
stockbroker
T-square
threefold
up-to-the-minute
V-formation
vice president
well-made clothes
worldwide inflation
X-ray

Notice that African American contains no hyphen, but Italian-American does. There are no hard and fast rules
about this, and social conventions change. (There is no hyphen in French Canadian.) Some groups have insisted that
they do not want to be known as "hyphenated Americans" and resist, therefore, the use of a hyphen, preferring that
the word "American" be used as an adjective. Some resources even suggest that a term like Italian-American should
be used only when the individual thus referred to has parents of two different nationalities. That's probably a stretch,
but a writer must be aware that sensibilities can be aroused when using nationalities of any description. Consistency
within a document is also important.
Suspended Compounds*

With a series of nearly identical compounds, we sometimes delay the final term of the final term until the last
instance, allowing the hyphen to act as a kind of place holder, as in

The third- and fourth-grade teachers met with the parents.

Both full- and part-time employees will get raises this year.
We don't see many 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children around here.

Be careful not to overuse this feature of the hyphen; readers have to wait until that final instance to know what
you're talking about, and that can be annoying.
FOR ADDITIONAL HELP
The Chicago Manual of Style contains an extensive section devoted to compounded modifiers and nouns. That
book's table of compounds categorizes compounds into various types, and helps us discover principles of spelling
(and some really strange exceptions). Styles of compounding words change over the years, however, and writers
might even find different versions in different dictionaries. The Chicago Manual is especially helpful because it tries
to define the principles by which such decisions are made.

CASES OF NOUNS
AND PRONOUNS

Select from the follow ing

Definition
Nouns and pronouns in English are said to display case according to their function in the sentence. They can
be subjective or nominative (which means they act as the subject of independent or dependent
clauses), possessive (which means they show possession of something else), or objective (which means they
function as the recipient of action or are the object of a preposition).
Except for the possessive forms (usually formed by the addition of an apostrophe and the letter s), nouns do
not change form in English. (This is one of the few ways in which English is easier than other languages.) Pronouns,
however, do change form when they change case; these changes are most clearly illustrated among the personal
pronouns. The chart below illustrates the different forms among the cases.

Subjective

Possessive

Objective

frog

frog's

frog

Mary

Mary's

Mary

frogs

frogs'

frogs

witches

witches'

witches

Nouns
Singular

Plural

Personal Pronouns
Singular
1st person

my, mine

me

2nd person

you

your, yours

you

3rd person

he
she
it

his
her, hers
its

him
her
it

1st person

we

our, ours

us

2nd person

you

your, yours

you

3rd person

they

their, theirs

them

Plural

Relative and interrogative pronouns

who

whose

whom

whoever

whomever

which/that/what

which/that/what

Indefinite pronouns
everybody

everybody's

everybody

Jayden and I versus Jayden and Me

For some writers and speakers, the case of a pronoun becomes especially troublesome when that pronoun is
compounded with something or someone else. When the pronoun is being used as a subject, there is usually no
problem:
Jayden and I are playing tennis this afternoon.
Jayden and she are playing tennis this afternoon.
We learn this lesson so well getting cuffed on the ears and being forced to stand in the corner when we say
"Jayden and me are playing tennis. . . " that when the object form of the pronoun is truly called for, we're apt to
come up with the subject form instead, as in "Grandma left Jayden and I her rocking chair," which is bad form,
indeed.
There is a simple rule here that seems to work very well, at least in writing. Ask yourself what pronoun form
you would use without adding the other person "Grandma left me her rocking chair" (coming up with the correct
form for the indirect object) and then, when you add the other person, don't change the form of the
pronoun: "Grandma left Jayden and me her rocking chair."
This rule works whether the pronoun is being used as an indirect object, as above, as a direct object "The
policeman stopped Jayden and me" or as the object of a preposition "Grandma gave her rocking chair to
Jayden and me." Some writers and speakers will mistakenly say "This is just between Jayden and I," not realizing
that the preposition "between" calls for the object form of both pronouns, including "me."
The rule also pertains to sentences in which a pronoun is compounded with yet another pronoun: "Grandma
gave her rocking chair to him and me, but that's just between you and me."
Notice that when "I" is compounded with another subject, the "other person" or people get first billing:
"Jayden and I are playing," not "I and Jayden." This is one of the very few polite forms in English.

Choosing Cases after Linking Verbs

and after But, Than, and As
In formal or academic text, we need the nominative or subject form of the pronoun after a linking verb: "It
was he who represented the United Nations during the 1960s," "That must be she on the dock over there." In casual
speech and writing, however, that sounds awfully stuffy. Imagine the detective who's been looking for the victim's
body for days. He jimmies open the trunk of an abandoned car and exclaims, "It's she!" No self-respecting detective
since Sherlock Holmes would say such a thing.
When the personal pronoun follows except, but, than, or as, you've got an argument on your hands.
Traditionally, these words have been regarded as conjunctions and the personal pronoun that follows has been
regarded as the subject of a clause (which might not be completed). Thus "No one could be as happy as I." (If you
provide the entire mechanism of the clause "as I [am]" you see the justification for the subject form.) The
same goes for these other conjunctions: "Whom were you expecting? who else but he?" "My father is still taller than
she" [than she is].
Many grammarians have argued, however, that these words are often used as prepositions, not conjunctions
(and have been used that way for centuries by many good writers). In a structure such as "My mother is a lot
like her," we have no trouble recognizing that "like" is acting as a preposition and we need the object form of the
pronoun after it. Why, then, can't we use "than" and "but" as prepositions in sentences such as "Dad's a lot taller
than him" and "No one in this class has done the homework but me"? Such usage is now widely regarded as
acceptable in all but the most formal writing. The same argument is sometimes used for the object form after as
"The coach is not as smart as me" but this argument does not enjoy the cogency of using the object form
after but and than.
Garner* argues that when the pronoun precedes the but phrase, the objective case should be used ("None of
the students were interested but him"); when the but phrase precedes the verb, the subject case is appropriate ("None
of the students but he were interested"). The argument goes that in the former case but is behaving as a preposition,
in the second as a conjunction.
Choosing Cases in the Appositive Position
An appositive is the renaming or amplification of something earlier in the sentence. In the sentence "Ronald
E. Pepin, translator of several Latin texts, will speak at our symposium on translating dead languages tomorrow," the
phrase "translator of several Latin texts" is a re-identification of the person's name, an appositive. Occasionally,
pronouns can fall into the appositive slot of a sentence and that can create questions about case. If the appositive is
renaming something that functions as a subject, the pronoun should take the subject form; if the appositve is
renaming something that functions as an object, the pronoun must take the object form.

The two people in charge of the symposium, Micki and I, will help pay for the damages. (where
"Micki and I" renames the subject, "two people")

Nobody in the auditorium, not even he, expected that a riot would break out. (where "he" agrees with
the subject "nobody")
My favorite professors, Dr. Pepin and she, gave interesting talks. (where "she" corresponds to the
subject "professors")
Great Grandmother Etherea left her money to her favorite people, Jayden and me. (where "me"
agrees with the object of the preposition "people")
The bank credited two different groups, the Stamp Club and us, with making deposits on the same
day. (where "us" agrees with the object "groups")

When a sentence with compounded pronouns sounds intolerably klutzy, the sentence will have to be rewritten.
"The group gave certificates of recognition to the two oldest members, him and me" might sound better as "The
group gave certificates of recognition to him and me [or 'to both of us'], the two oldest members" or "He and I, the
two oldest members of the group, received certificates of recognition."
Choosing Cases When Pronouns Are Combined
with Other Subjects/Objects
Occasionally pronouns are connected to other subjects or objects in the sentence. In that case, the case of the
pronoun can be important and errors are apt to be made, especially in the object position. Generally, the choice
becomes obvious when you drop the noun or noun phrase that the pronoun is combined with.

We students can no longer tolerate the administration's mismanagement of funds. [We can no longer
tolerate ]
The administration has given us students no alternative. [ has given us no alternative.]

In the second person, this is not really a problem, because the form of "you" remains the same whether it is singular
or plural, subject or object.

You students need to take care of this situation on your own.

I'm giving you students three months to come up with a solution.

Choosing Cases in Exhortations Beginning with Let

When a pronoun follows "let" in a mild exhortation, we use the object form of the pronoun. We say "Let us go
then," but we're apt to slip in the subject form, especially when the pronouns are compounded: "And now, let you
and I take the first step toward reconciliation." (It should read "let you and me ") And in the Biblical admonition,
we read "Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone." (It should read "Let him who is without guilt cast the first
stone.")
Choosing Cases in Captions
Let's say you're putting together a photo album, and there's a nice photo of you and Grandpa, fishing. Should
the caption read "Grandpa and Me, Fishing on Lake Pymatuning" or "Grandpa and I, Fishing"? The nominative

form, "Grandpa and I," sounds awfully formal and highfalutin for this purpose, and we can reasonably argue that the
objective form, "Grandpa and Me," is a kind of shorthand for "This is a photo of Grandpa and Me. " The choice
between formal-stuffy and casual-acceptable is up to you.
VERBS AND ADVERBS
Definitions
Verbs carry the idea of being or action in the sentence.

I am a student.
The students passed all their courses.

As we will see on this page, verbs are classified in many ways. First, some verbs require an object to complete their
meaning: "She gave _____ ?" Gave what? She gave money to the church. These verbs are called transitive. Verbs
that are intransitive do not require objects: "The building collapsed." In English, you cannot tell the difference
between a transitive and intransitive verb by its form; you have to see how the verb is functioning within the
sentence. In fact, a verb can be both transitive and intransitive: "The monster collapsed the building by sitting on it."
Although you will seldom hear the term, a ditransitive verb such as cause or give is one that can take a
direct object and an indirect object at the same time: "That horrid music gave me aheadache." Ditransitive verbs are
slightly different, then, from factitive verbs (see below), in that the latter take two objects.
Verbs are also classified as either finite or non-finite. A finite verb makes an assertion or expresses a state of
being and can stand by itself as the main verb of a sentence.

The truck demolished the restaurant.

The leaves were yellow and sickly.

Non-finite verbs (think "unfinished") cannot, by themselves, be main verbs:

The broken window . . .

The wheezing gentleman . . .

Another, more useful term for non-finite verb is verbal. In this section, we discuss various verbal forms: infinitives,
gerunds, and participles.

For WebCT Users

The "-s" Problem Icon means that the verb requires an -sending because it's a third-person
(he/she/it) verb in the present tense. See the Table of Verb Tenses for help in identifying
present tenses requiring the -s.

The "-ed" Problem Icon probably means that the verb requires an -ed ending because it's in
the past tense or that an -ed ending has been used inappropriately. The -edending is
particularly problematic when it occurs just before a "d" or "t" sound as in "We are used to doing
things the way we're supposed to: like in the old-fashioned days." See theTable of Verb Tenses for
help in identifying past tenses requiring the -ed.
The "Verb" Problem Icon probably means that the verb tenses in this sentence are
inconsistent or incorrect. See the section on Sequencing for help in using the correct
sequence of verb tenses. See the section on Consistency for help in maintaining a proper
consistency in verb tense.

Four Verb Forms

The inflections (endings) of English verb forms are not difficult to remember. There are only four basic forms.
Instead of forming complex tense forms with endings, English uses auxiliary verb forms. English does not even have
a proper ending for future forms; instead, we use auxiliaries such as "I am going to read this afternoon." or "I will
read." or even "I am reading this book tomorrow." It would be useful, however, to learn these four basic forms of
verb construction.

Name of verb

Base form

Past form

Present participle

Past participle

to work

I can work.
I work.

I worked.

I am working.

I have worked.

to write

I can write.
I write.

I wrote.

I am writing.

I have written.

Linking Verbs
A linking verb connects a subject and its complement. Sometimes called copulas, linking verbs are often
forms of the verb to be, but are sometimes verbs related to the five senses (look, sound, smell, feel, taste) and
sometimes verbs that somehow reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What
follows the linking verb will be either a noun complement or an adjective complement:

Those people are all professors.

Those professors are brilliant.
This room smells bad.
I feel great.
A victory today seems unlikely.

A handful of verbs that reflect a change in state of being are sometimes called resulting copulas. They, too, link a
subject to a predicate adjective:

His face turned purple.

She became older.
The dogs ran wild.
The milk has gone sour.
The crowd grew ugly.

"This is he."
A Frequently Asked Question about linking verbs concerns the correct response
when you pick up the phone and someone asks for you. One correct response would
be "This is he [she]." The predicate following the linking verb should be in the
nominative (subject) form definitely not "This is him." If "This is he" sounds stuffy to you, try
using "Speaking," instead, or "This is Fred," substituting your own name for Fred's unless
it's a bill collector or telemarketer calling, in which case "This is Fred" is a good response for
everyone except people named Fred.

Active and Passive Voice

There is now a separate section dealing with issues raised by a verb's VOICE (active/passive).
Mood
Mood in verbs refers to one of three attitudes that a writer or speaker has to what is
being written or spoken. The indicative mood, which describes most sentences on this page,
is used to make a statement or ask a question. The imperative mood is used when we're feeling sort of bossish and
want to give a directive, strong suggestion, or order:

Get your homework done before you watch television tonight.

Please include cash payment with your order form.
Get out of town!

Notice that there is no subject in these imperative sentences. The pronoun you (singular or plural, depending
on context) is the "understood subject" in imperative sentences. Virtually all imperative sentences, then, have a
second person (singular or plural) subject. The sole exception is the first person construction, which includes an
objective form as subject: "Let's (or Let us) work on these things together."
The subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin
with if and express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as if and as though when such
clauses describe a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with that and express a demand,
requirement, request, or suggestion. A new section on the uses of the Conditional should help you understand the
subjunctive.

She wishes her boyfriend were here.

If Juan were more aggressive, he'd be a better hockey player.

We would have passed if we had studied harder.
He acted as if he were guilty.
I requested that he be present at the hearing.

The subjunctive is not as important a mood in English as it is in other languages, like French and Spanish,
which happen to be more subtle and discriminating in hypothetical, doubtful, or wishful expressions. Many
situations which would require the subjunctive in other languages are satisfied by using one of several auxiliary
verbs in English.

The New York Public Library's Writer's Guide to Style and Usage has
this important note on the subjunctive: "The words if, as if, or as
though do not always signal the subjunctive mood. If the information in
such a clause points out a condition that is or was probable or likely, the
verb should be in the indicative mood. The indicative tells the reader
that the information in the dependent clause could possibly be true"
(155). Cited with permission.

The present tense of the subjunctive uses only the base form of the verb.

He demanded that his students use two-inch margins.

She suggested that we be on time tomorrow.

The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the indicative except (unfortunately) for the verb to be,
which uses were regardless of the number of the subject.

If I were seven feet tall, I'd be a great basketball player.

He wishes he were a better student.
If you were rich, we wouldn't be in this mess.
If they were faster, we could have won that race.

An excellent resource for learning more about the subjunctive is available in the online American Heritage
Book of English Usage.

Auxiliary or Helping Verbs

The issues raised by Helping or Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries are covered in a separate section.
Click here for help with Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries.
Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and another word or phrase, usually a preposition. The resulting combination
creates what amounts to a new verb, whose meaning can sometimes be puzzling to non-native speakers. Phrasal
verbs often arise from casual uses of the language and eventually work themselves into the mainstream of language
use. Phrasal verbs can be both intransitive (The children were sitting around, doing nothing. The witness
finally broke down on the stand.) and transitive in meaning (Our boss called off the meeting. She looked up her old
boyfriend.) The word that is joined with a verb in this construction (often a preposition) is called a particle.
The problem with phrasal verbs is that their meaning is often, at first, obscure, and they often mean several
different things. To make out, for instance, can mean to perceive or to see something; it can also mean to engage in
light sexual play. If someone chooses to turn up the street that is a combination of a verb and a preposition, but it is
not a phrasal verb. On the other hand, if your neighbors unexpectedly turn up (appear) at a party or your
brother turns up his radio, those are phrasal verbs. To come out, we are told, has eighteen different meanings.
Verbs can be combined with different prepositions and other words, sometimes with dizzying effect: stand
out, stand up, stand in, stand off, stand by, stand fast, stand pat, stand down, stand against, stand for. Further, the
verb and the word or phrase it connects to are not always contiguous: "Fill this out," we would say, but then we
would say, "Fill out this form."
You can click HERE for an extensive list of phrasal verbs, broken down into categories of transitive and
intransitive, separable and inseparable. The list of verbs is accompanied with brief definitions and examples. Printed
out, the list will be five or six pages long, depending on the size font you are using, the width of your browser
window, etc. Understand, however, that the list is a mere sampling of the hundreds of phrasal verb combinations.
For beginning language learners, the challenge of mastering phrasal verbs is so great that only intensive instruction
and practice in an ESL program and a great deal of time spent listening and reading carefully can address the
problem. Having a good dictionary at hand is also helpful.

Causative Verbs
Causative verbs designate the action necessary to cause another action to happen. In "The
devil made me do it." the verb "made" causes the "do" to happen. Here is a brief list of causative verbs, in no
particular order: let, help, allow, have, require, allow, motivate, get, make, convince, hire, assist, encourage, permit,
employ, force. Most of them are followed by an object (noun or pronoun) followed by an infinitive: "She allows her
pet cockatiel to perch on the windowsill. She hired a carpenter to build a new birdcage."
Three causative verbs are exceptions to the pattern described above. Instead of being followed by a
noun/pronoun and an infinitive, the causative verbs have, make and let are followed by a noun/pronoun and the base
form of the verb (which is actually an infinitive with the "to" left off).

Professor Villa had her students read four short novels in one week.

She also made them read five plays in one week.

However, she let them skip the final exam.

Factitive Verbs
Verbs like make, choose, judge, elect, select, name. are called factitive verbs. These transitive verbs can take
two objects, or seem to:

They judged Philbert's dog Best of Show. (where "dog" is the direct object and "Best of Show" is the
second complement).
The faculty elected Dogsbreath the new Academic Dean. (where Dogsbreath is the direct object and
"Academic Dean" is the second complement).
U.S. News and World Report named our college the best in the northeast. (where "our college" is the
direct object and "the best" is the second complement).

Tenses
Tense shows the time of a verb's action or being. There are three inflected forms reflected by changes in the
endings of verbs. The present tense indicates that something is happening or being now: "She is a student. She
drives a new car." The simple past tense indicates that something happened in the past: "She was a student. She
drove a new car." And the past participle form is combined with auxiliary verbs to indicate that something
happened in the past prior to another action: "She has been a student. She had driven a new car."
Unlike most other languages, English does not have inflected forms for the future tense. Instead, English
future forms are created with the use of auxiliaries: "She will be a student. She is going to drive a new car." English
can even create the future by using the present tense, "The bus arrives later this afternoon," or the present
progressive, "Heis relocating to Portland later next month."
For an extensive discussion of the future tense in English, click HERE.

Progressive Verbs
The progressive tenses, which indicate something being or happening, are formed with the present
participle form (ending in -ing) along with various auxiliaries. "She is driving. She was driving. She will
be driving. She has been driving. She had been driving. She will have been driving." Click HERE for
more on the progressive forms. Some verbs, called stative verbs, (including, sometimes, the verb to be)
do not normally create the progressive. Click here for a discussion of the difference between stative and
dynamic verbs.

The Directory contains descriptions, conjugations (for both regular and irregular verbs), and sample sentences for
the twelve tenses of active voice verbs. For a greatly simplified one-page summary of these tenses, click HERE.

Colin Mahoney, a teacher of English as a foreign language,

has a considerable page devoted to the Present Perfect Tense
(and related issues), which we recommend. For ESL learners
and students wanting a thorough review of verbs, we also
recommend the tutorial on English tenses
at Englishpage.com(expect ads).

Irregular Verbs
Most verbs in English form their various tenses consistently: add -ed to the base of a verb to create the simple
past and past participle: he walked; he has walked. There are, however, a number of so-called irregular verbs,
(including, unfortunately, some very common verbs such as to be and to have) whose various forms must be
memorized. An alphabetized list of Common Irregular Verbs is available in the Guide that you can copy or print
out and then try to memorize or at least use in practice sentences. You should take the quizzes on irregular verbs,
below, after you've looked at this list.

Sequence of Tenses
Sequence of Tenses: The relationship between verbs in a main clause and verbs in dependent clauses is
important. These verb tenses don't have to be identical as long as they reflect, logically, shifts in time and meaning:
"My brother had graduated before I started college." "My brother will have graduated before I start."
Click HERE for a chart describing various time relationships and how those relationships determine the appropriate
sequence of verb tenses.
Verbals
Verbals are words that seem to carry the idea of action or being but do not function as a true verb. The are
sometimes called "nonfinite" (unfinished or incomplete) verbs. Because time is involved with all verb forms,
whether finite or nonfinite, however, following a logical Tense Sequence is important. Click HERE for a chart
describing the time elements involved in choosing the correct verbal form. Verbals are frequently accompanied by
other, related words in what is called a verbal phrase.

There is a whole section on how verbals connect with other

words to form phrases. Be sure to visit the always
pleasant GARDEN OF PHRASES.

Participle: a verb form acting as an adjective. The running dog chased the fluttering moth. A present
participle (like running or fluttering) describes a present condition; a past participle describes something that has
happened: "The completely rotted tooth finally fell out of his mouth." The distinction can be important to the
meaning of a sentence; there is a huge difference between a confusing student and a confused student. See the
section on Adjectives for further help on this issue.
Infinitive: the root of a verb plus the word to. To sleep, perchance to dream. A present infinitive describes a
present condition: "I like to sleep." The perfect infinitive describes a time earlier than that of the verb: "I would
like to have won that game." See the section on Sequence below for other forms as well.

The Split Infinitive

If there is one error in writing that your boss or history prof can and will pick up on, it's the
notorious split infinitive. An infinitive is said to be "split" when a word (often an adverb) or
phrase sneaks between the to of the infinitive and the root of the verb: "to boldly go," being the
most famous of its kind. The argument against split infinitives (based on rather shaky historical
grounds) is that the infinitive is a single unit and, therefore, should not be divided. Because it
raises so many readers' hackles and is so easy to spot, good writers, at least in academic
prose, avoid the split infinitive. Instead of writing "She expected her grandparents to not stay,"
then, we could write "She expected her grandparents not to stay." Sometimes, though,
avoiding the split infinitive simply isn't worth the bother. There is nothing wrong, really, with a
sentence such as the following:
He thinks he'll be able to more than double his salary this year.
The Oxford American Desk Dictionary, which came out in October of 1998, says that the rule
against the split infinitive can generally be ignored, that the rule "is not firmly grounded, and
treating two English words as one can lead to awkward, stilted sentences." ("To Boldly
Go," The Hartford Courant. 15 Oct 1998.) Opinion among English instructors and others who
feel strongly about the language remains divided, however. Today's dictionaries allow us to
split the infinitive, but it should never be done at the expense of grace. Students would be wise
to know their instructor's feelings on the matter, workers their boss's.

Gerund: a verb form, ending in -ing, which acts as a noun. Running in the park after dark can be dangerous.
Gerunds are frequently accompanied by other associated words making up a gerund phrase ("running in the park
after dark").
Because gerunds and gerund phrases are nouns, they can be used in any way that a noun can be used:

as subject: Being king can be dangerous for your health.

as object of the verb: He didn't particularly like being king.

as object of a preposition: He wrote a book about being king.

Infinitives and Gerunds and Sequence

Although they are not, strictly speaking, verbs, infinitives and gerunds carry within them the idea of action.
Combined with auxiliary verb forms, like verbs, they also express various shades of time.

Simple

Forms

Perfective

Forms

Passive
Forms

Perfective
Passive

Forms

Perfective

Progressive

We had planned to watch all the events of

the Olympics
Seeing those athletes perform is always a
great thrill.

The women's hockey team hopedto have

won a gold medal before they were done.
We were thrilled about theirhaving been in
contention in the world championships
before.

To be chosen as an olympian must be the

biggest thrill in any athlete's life.
Being chosen, however, is probably not
enough.

The women did not seem satisfied

simply to have been selected as players.
Having been honored this way, they went
out and earned it by winning the gold.

To have been competing at that level, at

their age already, was quite an
accomplishment.

Infinitive

Actual and Potential Meanings

Although a gerund and an infinitive will often have practically the same meaning ("Running in the park after
dark can be dangerous" and "To run in the park after dark can be dangerous"), there can be a difference in meaning.
Gerunds are used to describe an "actual, vivid, or fulfilled action" whereas infinitives are better used to describe

"potential, hypothetical, or future events" (Frodesen & Eyring 297). This is especially true with three kinds of verbs:
verbs of emotion, verbs of completion/incompletion, and verbs of remembering.

EMOTION
Actual Event

Potential Event

I hated practicing my violin while the

other kids were playing outside.

I prefer to work during the day.

COMPLETION/INCOMPLETION
Actual Event

Potential Event

We began working on this project two

years ago. We finished working on this
project a month ago. (Finish always
takes a gerund.)

We will continue to work on this

project for the next four months. I
wonder when we will start to wrap
up this project.

REMEMBERING
(such as remember, forget, regret)
Juanita forgot to do her homework.
(meaning that Juanita failed to do her
homework because she didn't
remember to do it)

Juanita forgot doing her homework.

(meaning that Juanita did her
homework but that she forgot she had
done so)

Implementation of Grammar in sentence formation

Building Vocabulary.
Module 02 Communication - Part 1
Barriers of Communication
Speaking & Listening Effectively
Idioms, Phrases & Proverbs
Comprehension & Composition
Module 03 Communication - Part 2
Writing Skills ( Email, Business Correspondence)
Reading Skills (focus on voice modulation)
Extempore & Group Discussions
Smart English V/S Normal English
Testing & Evaluation
Course Highlights
Systemised Approach
Enhanced Vocabulary

Emphasis on Verbal Communication

through Role play, GD , Extempore
Accent Neutralisation
Email Drafting
Bussiness Communication
Placement Assistance with over 100 MNCS ( Banking & Finance, Retail,BPO / KPO )
Free Assistance after Completion of Course
Module 04 Accent Neutralisation
Diction Analysis
Pronunciation Power Guide
Introduction to Vowel & Consonants
Intonation Syllable Stress
Module 05 Personality Enhancement
Attitude Management
Killing Nervousness & Building Confidence
Body language & Dress Code
Role Play ( Real life Conversation- 30 )
Module 06 Interview Skills
Resume format
Personal Interview Techniques