BUSINESSS ENGLISH GRAMMAR

MODULE 2

The function of referring to people and things

Nouns

Definition A noun is any word that defines a person, animal, place, thing or phenomenon in a sentence. Below are examples of different categories of nouns. Nouns give names to: Concrete things: factory, desk, paper, money, office, computer etc. Abstract things: idea, scheme, moderation, sensitivity etc. Feelings: distress, happiness, joy, envy, pleasure etc. Activities and phenomena: thunder, electricity, earthquake, entertaining, training etc. People: John, Mary, Charles Dickens, Churchill, lawyer, assistant, employee. Animals: horse, hen, bear, crocodile, dog etc. Places: Lancaster University, Romania, Iai, Al. I. Cuza University, Florence etc.

The function of referring to people and things

Nouns
Kinds

1. Nouns can be divided into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns. Common Nouns Common nouns name ordinary things that are not specific or important enough to be capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence). Common nouns refer to any of a class of people, animals, places or things. Common nouns include most of the nouns used to name things: trainee dog city money consultant cat premises budget dentist lion shop awareness

Nouns
Proper Nouns Proper nouns name particular people, places, or things that are special enough to be always capitalized: Michelangelo Stratford upon Avon Sony John Smith Avalon Opel President Roosevelt The Carpathians McDonalds 2. Nouns can also be distinguished as count or mass nouns.

Proper nouns

Nouns
2. Nouns can also be distinguished as count or mass nouns. Count Nouns Count nouns are nouns that can be quantified or counted with a number. Here are a few examples: Names of persons, animals, plants and their parts Singular form: a worker, a cat, a rose, an arm Plural form: five workers, nine cats, five roses, two arms Objects Singular form: a computer, a desk, a ring, a lamp, a house Plural form: ten computers, six desks, two rings, three lamps, four houses Units of measurement and words of classification Singular form: a meter, a pound, a gram, a yard, a piece, an item, a state, a word, a language Plural form: eighty meters, two pounds, fifty grams, ten yards, five pieces, many items, fifty one states, four words, hundreds of languages Abstract words Singular form: an idea, a plan, a concept, a principle, a category Plural form: many ideas, two plans, a lot of principles, five categories

Count nouns

Nouns
Mass Nouns Mass nouns are uncountable by a number. They represent names of:

materials, food, metals, and natural qualities, like: bread, cotton, wood, lightness, adolescence liquids, gases, and substances made of many small particles: oil, smoke, oxygen, rice, sugar, salt, cement languages: English, Romanian, Spanish, French, Latin, Sanskrit, Chinese other categories of things: baggage, information, furniture, equipment, merchandise, insurance, advice, cash and are quantified by a word that signifies amount: much, little, a little, some, a great deal of, a lot of, measurement units: two pounds of, three items of etc. Remember that a number cannot be used to quantify a mass noun. It is incorrect to say: four woods, one rice, three courages. We would say instead: a foot of wood, a pound of rice, an ounce of courage, a bar of chocolate, a piece of music, a lot of money, little sugar.

Mass nouns

Nouns
Collective Nouns Some nouns can be seen both as a number of people and as a unit: group, family, government, team, staff, union etc. That is why they are used with the verb in the singular or in the plural form: The team have decided to accept the project; Our firm has overtaken your firm.

Collective nouns

Noun - formation
Formation of nouns Apart from those words that we use only as nouns, like book, office, car, oil etc, there are nouns derived from other parts of speech, by adding a suffix: Parts of speech Verbs: initiate, recruit, employ, promote, train, fail, refer, perform, assist, deliver Derived nouns by suffixation initiative, recruitment, employment, promotion, training, trainee, failure, reference, performance, assistant, delivery Adjectives: fair, active, accurate Derived nouns: fairness, activity, accuracy Nouns: man, partner, capital, law Derived nouns mankind, partnership, capitalism, lawyer Note: sometimes the pronunciation is different, even in the cases in which the noun and the verb have the same form:

Practice1
Find the nouns that match the descriptions: 1. He is the leader of a meeting, the person who controls the direction that it takes; so he is called a. 2. The people that attend/participate in a meeting are called.. 3. He plays the piano, so he is a.. 4. He gives legal advice to people, it means he is a. 5. He studied Spanish and became a Spanish. 6. The person who is responsible for the agenda and the minutes of a meeting is called a..

Practice 2
Decide if the following take the verb in the singular or in the plural form: - Mathematics (be) taught from primary school. - I can say after your face that the news (be) bad. - The information (have) arrived this morning, I havent had the time to discuss it with the staff yet. - The bank (have) invited me to discuss my loan. - The phenomenon of absenteeism (be) not unusual in this department. - Their headquarters (be) in Sibiu.

Practice 3
Find the nouns derived from the following parts of speech and put them into sentences that describe your place of work. The first example has been done for you: recruit(v.) object (v.) accurate(adj.) effective(adj.) weak(adj.) complex(adj.) prosperous(adj.), social(adj.) rely(v.) refer (v.) initiate(v.) protect(v.) real (adj.) Example: Recruitment of new staff is made after very clear rules in our company.

Practice 4
Work in pairs. a. Ask and answer questions about your ideal job. Think in terms of: - interpersonal communication - job satisfaction - social/medical facilities - stress level - working hours - financial satisfaction - promotion conditions b. Write a letter to a friend of yours who would like to get a job. Use the collocations above to describe the job you found for him/her; encourage him/her to apply for it.

Plural of Nouns
To form the plural of a noun, in English, we add -s to the singular form: worker workers, mind minds, office offices, project projects etc. When the noun ends in s, -x, -ch, -sh, -th, o (with some exceptions) or -y (preceded by a consonant) we add es: dress dresses, fax faxes, watch - watches, bush bushes, bath-bathes ( but mouth-mouths); delivery deliveries, hero heroes, but piano- pianos, photo-photos (in the case of foreign or abbreviated words).

Plural of Nouns
Nouns ending in y (preceded by a vowel) form the plural by adding -s only: toy toys, joy- joys. Some nouns ending in f or -fe form the plural by dropping the f or fe and adding ves: half-halves; loaf-loaves, shelf-shelves, but belief-beliefs, cliff-cliffs, chief-chiefs. There are also nouns with double forms for the plural: dwarf-dwarfs, dwarves, hoof-hoofs, hooves.

Plural of Nouns
Other nouns form their plural by changing a vowel or a diphthong: man-men, woman-women, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, goose-geese, mouse-mice, louse-lice, or by adding en, -ren to the singular form: ox-oxen, child-children, brother-brethren. A few names of animals and fish do not take s in the plural: deer-deer, sheep-sheep, fish-fish, trout-trout etc.

Plural of Nouns
There are also borrowed nouns, especially from Greek and Latin that form their plurals according to the rules of those languages: appendix-appendices (appendixes), axis-axes, basis-bases, crisis-crises, datum-data, memorandum- memoranda, synthesis-syntheses, thesis- theses. Within this context, there are cases in which the foreign nouns either add s, or -es to form the plural: diploma-diplomas, bonus-bonuses, or they have two forms for the plural: genius-geniuses, genii, syllabus-syllabuses, syllabi, formulaformuli, formulas, medium-mediums, media, sometimes with different meanings[1]. [1] geniuses= extraordinarily intelligent persons genii=supernatural beings

Plural of Nouns
Other nouns occur only in the plural, for example some names of tools: scissors, tongs, binoculars, compasses, scales etc. names of diseases: measles, mumps, skittles etc., names of games: billiards, draughts etc., names of clothes: trousers, shorts, overalls etc. but also: outskirts, headquarters, premises, means, crossroads etc.

Plural of Nouns
Compound nouns usually form their plural by marking the last word: armchair-armchairs, classroomclassrooms, forget-me-not forget-menots, armful-armfuls, but court martial/ courts martial; Compound words formed with prepositions or adverbs make the first word plural: looker-on lookers-on, brother-in-law brothers-in law etc

Cases of Nouns
When a noun is the subject of a sentence or the complement of a verb like to be, to seem, this noun is in the Nominative case: The clerk asked for an identity card; She is my boss. When a noun is the direct object of a verb or follows a preposition, it is in the Accusative case: The Board of Directors recruited the team; My colleagues went to the meeting. A noun in the Dative case is the indirect object of a verb: The head of our department gave John a bonus; We whispered the colleague the right answer.

Cases of Nouns
For the Genitive case we can use either of or s to express possession. When the possessor is a person or an animal the s is used: The Presidents speech was very successful; The dogs barking became very annoying. When the possessor is a thing of is commonly used: The screen of the TV-set is too small; The title of your thesis is very suggestive.

Cases of Nouns
Sometimes we just put two nouns together in well-known combinations, using the first noun as an adjective: The record store is just across the street; The staff spent a long time with the needs analysis; We were kept in a traffic jam; We often remember our summer holiday. The possessive form is also used with expressions of time: He got his five months pay and left; I have read it in todays paper.

Practice 1
Correct the mistakes in the following sentences and then use them in sentences of your own. All those peoples came here to apply for the same job. Statistics are my favorite subject. Absenteeism is not a new phenomena in this sector. The company started producing foods products as well as tobacco. I met her while visiting their premis in Bucharest. Both the head of the department and the employes working there signed that document

Practice 2
a. Put the nouns below in the plural; some of them have two forms for the plural: diary news freedom genius cash shelf curriculum information memo fax sheep fish money chief appendix formula syllabus equipment information b. Pick up 5 of the nouns above and make up sentences in the affirmative, interrogative and negative.

Practice 3
Put the quantifying expressions in the right place: He bought a pound of wood to finish the building with. I always listen to some wonderful lumps of music while I travel by plane. He brought some pieces of sugar and then served tea.. When in Switzerland, I always buy a foot of chocolate of the best quality. I wanted to borrow a bar of rice from my neighbor, but she wasnt home.

Practice 4
Find the right nouns to fit the sentences, starting from the underlined words. The first example has been completed for you. When a company is not success it may be forced to go out of business successful There are various express used only in business communities. Corporate finance refers to the manage active and skills required to raise money. Corporate plan refers to decisions about the goals and activities of the company. A sole trade is a type of business organize owned by one person.

Practice 5
There are many nouns that occur after the word business. Think of some of them and fill in the sentences below. The first example has been done for you. The people who own a business together are business partners. The termrefers to the organizations and people involved in business. A.is a college or part of university where courses on business subjects are taught. The process of running a company is called A visit to clients, suppliers or other business contacts which takes you away from home is called a The small cards showing a persons name position and company name are

Practice 6
a. Make up noun compounds by matching column A with column B Column A Column B corporate finance business partner sector trip company studies department community sales administration research Plan work Image Culture Strategy Public Manufacturing Service Private Figures Multinational Subsidiary

Practice 7
Form the Genitive of the nouns from the box and use them to make up a text about a company meeting. Development/network Board/chairman Company/workforce acquisition/company Shareholders/meeting

Determiners 1. The Article

The Definite Article Form The definite article is the and it has the same form for singular, plural and all genders. The woman found the documents left by the man on the shelf. Use The definite article is used with nouns that were used before, in the discourse: I interviewed a man and a woman yesterday; the woman was very sure of herself. The Danube is the most important river in our country. The BBC is one of the most famous TVchannels. You will be surprised to find out that Helen plays the piano.

The Definite Article

It is used with adjectives to specify a certain category of people: The rich will never believe the poor. It is also used when it is clear for both communicator and receiver what thing or place is meant: You know where the Financial department is; on the right side of the building; The definite article is always used before superlatives and some geographical names or names of institutions, but also before names of instruments:

The Indefinite Article

Form The indefinite articles are a or an. It is the same for all genders. A is used/encountered before a word beginning with a consonant or a vowel sounded like a consonant. A boss will always appreciate a useful suggestion. An is used before a word beginning with a vowel or with a mute h. An example of how to behave in business settings was given an hour ago.

The Indefinite Article

Use The indefinite article is used before singular countable nouns: He lives in a house, not in an apartment. It is also used before names of professions, in numerical and measurement expressions: His brother is an engineer; It costs $20 a kilo. I would like half a dozen, please. The indefinite article is also used in certain cases with few and little (when they express a small amount, respectively a small number or what the speaker considers a small amount or number), as well as in exclamations with singular countable nouns:

The Indefinite Article There were a few clients in the shop, and the owner was satisfied; There is a little money left, so, dont be so disappointed. What a success!

The Zero Article

Before uncountable nouns, unspecified countable nouns in the plural and some names of people and places there is no article or zero article: No money, no funny. Children usually enjoy playing with snow. London is known as one of the most cosmopolitan capitals. Dr. Smith is always ready to help. Before nouns as: home, church, school, college, bed, prison, work, sea. From work he went directly home. They were at sea when our company launched the new product.

Practice 1
Add articles where necessary in the following texts: A lot of (1..) things have changed today owing to (2) development of (3) plastic industry, for (4.) materials are now obtainable which are not only (5)lighter in (6) weight, but which are also easily washed. In (7) great cotton mills (8) process of weaving cotton thread into (9) cloth is accomplished by hundreds of power looms run by (10) steam and electricity. These giant world forces have taken (11) place of frail human hands. In (12) England, (13) Wales (14) Scotland and (15) Northern Ireland, English is (16..) official language spoken.

Practice 2
Translate the following sentences into Romanian, paying attention to the use of articles in the marked expressions: We were visiting our new building site, when, all of a sudden, big drops of rain began to fall. The news of her retirement did create a stir. The boss promised me he would put in a good word for me. Its a pity you couldnt attend that conference. Their success was to a great extent the result of hard work. Because of my problems at work I couldnt sleep a wink all night. They didnt give a damn on what the witness said.

Practice 3
Translate the following sentences into English, using the phrases in the box below: to be in a hurry; to have a mind; to keep a secret; to have a good time to suffer from a headache

De o bun bucat de vreme eful nu se mai poate concentra asupra proiectelor sale; se pare c sufer de cumplite dureri de cap. L-am intilnit ieri la universitate, dar nu am putut sta de vorba cu el, se grbea. M bate gndul s-mi schimb locul de munc. Ne-am distrat bine in concediu, dar mine trebuie s ne ntoarcem la lucru. Ai aflat care sunt departamentele vizate de conducerea fabricii?

Numerals
Form and use Numerals can express a number, the numeric determination of objects (cardinal numerals), or the counted order of things (ordinal numerals) Cardinal numerals 0 (zero, oh, nil, nothing) may be also read /u/, especially in expressing telephone numbers ( 2040 is read /tu: u fo: u / 1. Zero is used in mathematics and in temperature indications: We will have 2 degrees below zero tomorrow. nil and nothing are used in expressing scores in sport matches: Rapid Steaua won 2-0 (two nil/ two to nothing)

Cardinal numerals
The cardinal numbers from 1 to 12 are: 1 one 7 seven 2 two 8 eight 3 three 9 nine 4 four 10 ten 5 five 11 eleven 6 six 12 twelve He had seven days of medical leave.

Cardinal numerals
Starting with 13 thirteen up to 19 nineteen we form the cardinal numbers by adding the suffix -teen to the numbers 3-9 with some changes marked below for 13 and 15. 13 thirteen 17 seventeen 14 fourteen 18 eighteen 15 fifteen 19 nineteen 16 sixteen We are fifteen people in our department.

Cardinal numerals
The suffix added to form tens is ty, starting with number 20 twenty, again with some spelling changes marked below: 20 twenty 60 sixty 30 thirty 70 seventy 40 forty 80 eighty 50 fifty 90 ninety He was forty when he became Marketing director.

Cardinal numerals
To form the numerals between tens we add units in the following way: Twenty-one; fifty-seven; eighty-nine; ninety-five etc. Starting with 100 one/a hundred, we add and to form other numerals: 102 one hundred and two 1,001[1] a/one thousand and one 2,301 two thousand, three hundred and one 5,000[2] five thousand 1,000,000 a/one million 2,000,001 two million and one They announced there were five hundred people injured in the train accident [1] numbers exceeding 1000 are separated by commas [2] hundred, thousand and million do not take a plural when the number is specified, they receive the plural mark only when the number is not precise: thousands of students, hundreds of companies etc.

Use
We use the cardinal numeral to express; 1. abstract numbers: One, two, one thousand are cardinal numerals. 2. numerical determination of objects: He owns four houses and ten cars. 3. dates: Today is the 3-rd of March 2006 /two thousand and six. I first met him in 1980/ one thousand nine hundred and eighty or nineteen eighty.

Use
4. chronological time: It is nine oclock and the meeting is due to start in half an hour. It is half past five, the secretary has already left. 5. decimals/ percentages They reported only 5.9/ two point five of the total production. He said that 10% / ten per cent of the profit was used for investments. 6. mathematical operations: Ten and twenty make thirty./ Ten plus twenty equals/is thirty. Five minus two equals/is three./ Two from five leaves/is three. Two times three is six. Twenty divided by two equals/ is ten/ Two into twenty goes ten times.

Ordinal numerals
By ordinal numerals we express the counted order of things (in time and space). We generally form them starting from cardinal numerals and adding the suffix th: the fourth, the seventh. They are always preceded by the definite article the As we have seen in cardinal numerals there are some spelling changes in ordinal numerals too: the fifth, the twelfth, the thirtieth, the fortieth. There are a few exceptions from the rule stated above: the first (1-st), the second (2-nd) and the third (3-rd). In the case of compound numerals only the last one receives the suffix th: the 35-th/ the thirty-fifth; the 911th/ the nine hundred and eleventh.

Use
We use ordinal numerals to express: dates: On the 25-th/ twenty-fifth of July[1] 2006, we delivered the goods by plane. repeated actions in time: We have a board meeting every second[2] week. Note Fractions contain both cardinal and ordinal numerals: 1/3 one third; three quarters; 5/30 five thirtieths etc. [1] this order is used in Br. E; in Am. E the order is month, day, year: July, the 25/ 2006 [2] we omit the definite article the in this case

Practice 1
In the following text the numerals have been misplaced, find their right place and translate the text into Romanian: They started building the premises in June 2005 and finished it in May 2004. The dam was built in blocks that varied in size from about 500 km at the bottom to about 800 tons at the top. To set the concrete they laid more than12 m steel pipe in the concrete and pumped icy water through it. The water came from a refrigeration plant that could produce1.5 m of ice a day.

Practice 2
Fill in the following sentences with numerals extracted from the box below: Dozen three fourth two/oh/six/seven/nine four two(pence) How much bread will you buy for ..? One half of six is.. Twelve things are called a .. Oneof eight is two. Ring him up at his office, here is his telephone number

Practice 3
Fill in the sentences with figures from the following box. See also the table below to remember the forms of numerals: 8-th 1.36 2007 23% 90 5670[1] 1/3[2] Last month one euro was worth .. US dollars. Can you explain why a Trinitron Panasonic TV costs . euros more in France than in Germany? Average US car prices are .. less than comparable cars in Europe. He allotted . of the total budget to investments, which is a good point, if we think that last year the proportion was smaller. The . International Congress on E-learning will be held in India next year. Today is the 12-th of March... . His extension number is . [1] 0 (zero, oh, nil, nothing) may be also read /u/, especially in expressing telephone numbers. [2] Fractions contain both cardinal and ordinal numerals: three quarters; 5/30 five thirtieths etc.

Adjectives
ADJECTIVES Definition Adjectives are words that are used to modify a noun. Kinds There are many kinds of adjectives and they usually determine a noun. We have met a clever negotiator (adjectives of quality: new, young, interesting, rich, poor etc); Some people understand our policy (quantitative adjectives: some, any, no, few, many, much, one)); This office is ours (demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those). There are also distributive adjectives: each, every, either, neither, interrogative adjectives: which, what, whose and possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their.

Adjectives
Adjectives of Quality We will focus on adjectives of quality in this section. Form These adjectives have only one form for singular, plural, masculine and feminine nouns: I have a very young boss (m. or f.) I have a young sister/ I have young colleagues. Some adjectives are derived from other parts of speech (usually verbs or nouns) by means of suffixation, as shown in the table below:

Adjective
Verb: limit, persuade, deduct, persist, etc. Derived adjective: limited, persuasive, deductible, persistent. Noun: hope, fame, care, profession etc Derived adjective: hopeless, famous, careful, professional

Adjectives
Use The position of adjectives is usually before nouns, but also after the verbs: be, seem, appear and look. We have a competitive product/ The product seems competitive. Some adjectives are used after the nouns: The problems discussed were very interesting for most of the directors. Other adjectives may be used both before and after the noun (present, involved, responsible etc.)

The present members of our Board will decide in this matter./ Those members present today will take a decision.

Compound adjectives
Nouns and adjectives may be combined to modify another noun, in which case the word can be hyphenated (although the hyphen is often a matter of personal preference). He is an open-minded fellow. I can be empty-headed sometimes.

Degrees of Comparison
There are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. One-syllable adjectives form their comparative and superlative in a synthetic way, namely by adding -er and -est to the positive form. Let us take the adjective rich as an example. Here are its degrees of comparison:

Degrees of Comparison
Positive: rich Comparative of superiority: richer than Comparative of equality: as rich as Comparative of inferiority: less rich than Superlative absolute: very rich Superlative relative: the richest of/from

Degrees of Comparison
In the case of long adjectives (of two or more syllables) the comparative of superiority and the superlative relative are formed by the help of more and respectively most. Let us take the adjective interesting and form its degrees of comparison: Positive: interesting Comparative of superiority: more interesting than Comparative of equality: as interesting as Comparative of inferiority: less interesting than Superlative absolute: very interesting Superlative relative: the most interesting of/from

Degrees of Comparison
Adjectives of two syllables can follow one or other of the above rules: the ones ending in ful or re usually take more and most, whereas those ending in er, -y or ly take er and est: careful more careful the most careful obscure more obscure the most obscure clever cleverer the cleverest pretty prettier the prettiest holy holier the holiest

Irregular comparisons
Some adjective have irregular comparisons: good better best bad worse worst ill little less least many more most much far further furthest farther farthest (of distance only) old older oldest elder eldest (of people only and especially within a family) late later latest latter (the second of two) last (the opposite of the first)

Expressions with adjectives

There are many constructions with comparisons used in the discourse: The bigger the investment is the more money it will produce. His position in the company is getting higher and higher. Last but not least point is.. The results of our team are exceptionally good. Note Some adjectives are also used as nouns: good, bad, poor, rich, young, old, living, dead, healthy, sick. The rich(n[1]) are making the rules here. Rich (adj[2].) people are always making the rules. [1] n = noun [2] adj. = adjective

Expressions with adjectives

Multiple adjectives When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, they may be separated by a conjunction or by commas. Your results are good and promising. You have good, promising results. Past participles of verbs can also be used as adjectives, such as native born, foreign made, soft spoken, warmly dressed, well behaved, and so on. I was satisfied with that foreign made device.

Adverbs
Definition An adverb is a word or group of words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They may be simple, interrogative or conjunctive. Form Simple Adverbs A simple adverb is used as a simple modifier telling manner, time, place, degree, or number. Eric delivered the presentation yesterday. The desk belongs there. He seemed extremely confused by your question. She came to the party first.

Adverbs
Interrogative adverbs An interrogative adverb is used to ask questions. They are: why, when, where, how: When do you go to that conference? How do you use this laptop? Conjunctive Adverbs A conjunctive adverb connects independent clauses. Some common conjunctive adverbs are accordingly, also, anyhow, besides, consequently, however, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, still, then, therefore, and yet. You may use a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb to join the two clauses; Michael did not fulfil his tasks; however, he still received bonuses .

Adverbs
Some adverbs are formed from adjectives, by adding ly to their form: slow (adj.)/ slowly (adv.[1]); sincere (adj.)/sincerely (adv.), immediate (adj.)/ immediately. Some adjectives, such as: deep, early, fast, far, high, hard, low, little, much and near can also be used as adverbs: He came early (adv.) to meet the foreign partners./ An early (adj.) flight will save us a lot of time. He definitely had a hard (adj.) time, trying to cope with those conditions./ He tried hard to cope with those conditions. [1] adv. = adverb

Adverbs
Use The position of adverbs is quite a complex problem. Here are some instances of use: He speaks English very well (after the direct object). I saw files everywhere. He behaved well under the circumstances (after the verb) Yesterday he made a statement. / He made a statement yesterday (either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence).

Adverbs
She is always kind with the employees. / I often said that you were the best for that job (after the simple tenses of the verb to be, but before the simple tenses of the other verbs) I have never understood your staff policy (after the auxiliary in a compound tense). Hardly had I entered the office when the phone started to ring (inversion of the verb after the following adverbs: ever, never, hardly, only by, only then, seldom, scarcely, no sooner..than, neither, nor).

Degrees of comparison
As we have seen in the case of adjectives, the comparative and superlative degrees are formed by adding the -er and est suffix to short adverbs. Positive: soon Comparative of superiority: sooner than Comparative of equality: as soon as Comparative of inferiority: less soon than Superlative absolute: very soon Superlative relative: the soonest of Adverbs ending in -y drop the -y and add an -ier in the comparative degree and an -iest in the superlative degree:

Degrees of comparison
Positive: early Comparative: earlier Superlative: the earliest Adverbs (as well as adjectives) ending in the silent or mute -e drop the ending -e and add the -er for the comparative and the est for the superlative: Positive: free Comparative: freer Superlative: the freest

Degrees of comparison
Long adverbs (of two or more syllables) use more and most to form the comparative and respectively the superlative degree: Positive: fortunately, quickly, Comparative: more fortunately more quickly, Superlative: the most fortunately, the most quickly.

Degrees of comparison
There are also, as in the case of adjectives, irregular adverbs. Here are their comparative and superlative degrees: Positive: badly, far, little, late, much, well Comparative: worse, farther (referring to distance only) further, less, later, more, better Superlative: the worst, farthest (referring to distance only) furthest, least, last, most, best

Practice 1
Change the underlined words in the sentences below, into adjectives, according to the model: It has no use It is useless. The man leading the meeting had a beard. I like the taste of this drink. Nothing changes in this office. Of course we use this device for a lot of operations. I think the dress has no shape, I wont buy it.

Practice 2
Attach the appropriate suffixes to the following words to form adjectives/other adjectives, then use them in sentences of your own: absorb defence passive book desire legal consist dust proportionate cost fool danger lone

Practice 3
Pick up the right words to form meaningful sentences. Things made of wood are usually (expensive, inexpensive, expensively, inexpensively) Applications with (complete, incomplete, completely, incompletely) data will not be considered. Let us be reasonable. People who ask (possible, impossible, possibly, impossibly) questions cannot hope to be answered. The car runs (smoothly, smooth).

Practice 4
Complete the text below with the correct form of the word in brackets, add prefixes or suffixes wherever necessary: (Small) organizations commonly require staff and managers to cover a wider or more mixed range of responsibilities than in (large) organizations; for example, the 'office manager' role can comprise financial, HR[1], stock-control, scheduling and other duties. Therefore in smaller organizations, job descriptions might (necessary) contain a (greatest) number of (list) responsibilities, perhaps 15-16. However, whatever the circumstances, the number of responsibilities should not exceed this, or the job description becomes unwieldy and (effective). [1] HR = Human Resource

Practice 5
Complete the sentences with words extracted from the box below: Lately friendly extremely direct hard Fast wrongly hugely easily Is there any possibility to fly.to Milan? He is known to be a ..worker. I dont think he is a very .person. We havent seen our boss., but we know we can ..find him if we really wish. Dealing with advertising materials was.challenging for me. Young fellows like you like driving. cars. Unfortunately he was. ..dressed for the occasion. I wish you had a.. successful business.

Pronouns
Definition Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns in the discourse. Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns are the most commonly used pronouns and function as substitutes for nouns. They have the categories of person (I, you, he etc), gender (he, she, it etc.), number (I, we, she, they etc.) and case (he, him, she, her etc.) Form The forms of the personal pronouns for the singular are: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it and for the plural: we, us, you, they, them. The pronoun I, for the first person singular, is always written in capital letters. .

Pronouns
Use Here are some instances of use: She can use the computer very well; How many projects has he? It is he who wants to come (Nominative); I saw them at the meeting; This product was made up by us; (Accusative); I gave her this responsibility; (Dative).

Pronouns
The pronoun it is used for objects and animals and it has the same form for Nominative, Accusative and Dative cases: This is my dog, it often barks;(Nominative);But I love it; (Accusative); I have just given it a bone; (Dative). The pronoun it is also used in expressions of time, distance, weather, temperature etc. How far is it to your headquarters? It is five oclock, the negotiation should start. It is too cold in this office. It is a pleasure to meet you. It seems we will win this deal.

Pronouns
Reflexive and Emphasizing Pronouns Form These pronouns have the categories of person, gender, number and case. Number Form Singular 1st person myself 2nd person yourself 3rd person himself (m[1]); herself (f[2]); itself (n[3]) Plural 1st person ourselves 2nd person yourselves 3rd person themselves [1] m = masculine [2] f = feminine [3] n = neutre

Pronouns
Use As reflexive pronouns, they are objects of a verb when the subject and object are the same person: We blamed ourselves for the failure of the presentation; He cut himself while trying to repair the device. As emphasizing pronouns, they emphasize a noun or a pronoun: The manager himself made this observation, you cannot argue with him; She knows about the gift because she opened the box herself.

Pronouns
There are verbs usually followed by such pronouns: to behave oneself, to cut oneself, to wash oneself, to dress oneself, to look after yourself, to take care of yourself etc. We dressed ourselves quickly and got to the meeting on time.

Pronouns
Possessive Pronouns Possessive pronouns are those pronouns that show ownership or possession: The house is mine. Form The singular possessive pronouns are: mine, yours, his, hers and the plural ones are: ours, yours, theirs.

Pronouns
Use The possessive pronouns replace nouns: Look at this performing computer. It is hers; See the red car parked there? It is ours.

Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns Demonstrative pronouns call attention to their antecedents. An antecedent is the word or words to which a pronoun refers. Form The forms of the singular demonstrative pronouns are: this, that and the plural demonstrative pronouns are: these, those. Use If we take the following example: the yellow car is his; that is his car , the antecedent is the yellow car, to which the demonstrative that refers.

Pronouns
Relative Pronouns Relative pronouns refer to the preceding nouns (or replacers of nouns), distinguishing them from other nouns of the same class: Our manager is the man who is talking now. This is the shop-assistant to whom I gave the money for the scarf.

Pronouns
Form Relative pronouns have different forms for persons and things and for different cases: Relative pronouns referring to persons Nominative: who, that Accusative: whom, who, that Possessive: whose Relative pronouns referring to things Nominative: which, that Accusative: which, that Possessive: whose, of which

Pronouns
Use Who, whom and whose refer to masculine or feminine persons: The woman whom you saw is my aunt. Which and again whose refer to neuter nouns. The fact which really matters is that.

Pronouns
That may refer to all categories of nouns: persons or things in any gender and number The apartment which/that I bought was not large enough. Relative pronouns may be accompanied by prepositions: The person to whom I gave the responsibility is very reliable./ The person I gave the responsibility to is very reliable; The chair on which you are staying is an old one. Relative pronouns can be omitted: The person whom I like/ The person that I like/ The person I like are all correct.

Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative sentences.

Form They have the following forms: who (with the variants whom and whose), what, which, how much, how many, what kind of.

Pronouns
Use We use who, whom or whose for beings: Whose son are you? / Who is your boss? / Whom do you trust more in this company? What is used with things: What quality do you mean?/ What departments would you like to visit?

Pronouns
Which can be used with both beings and things: Which of the two is your colleague?/ Which tie shall I wear? How much and how many are used for quantities and numbers: How much money have you got on you?/ How many products have you launched this spring? We use what kind of with qualities: What kind of skills would one need as to work on this project?

Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific persons or things. Form The indefinite pronouns include: any, either, everything, some, no one, each, anybody, everybody, neither, someone, anyone, everyone, none, something.

Pronouns
Use These pronouns can be used in affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences: I saw someone in your office. Some files were on my desk yesterday. Did you take any? Yes, I took some./ No, I didnt take any.

Pronouns
Note Frequent misuse of plural pronouns occurs with two types of singular antecedents: indefinite pronouns and generic nouns. In our company everyone performs at his or her [not their] level of ability. Generic nouns represent a typical member or any member of a group, such as a typical student or any lawyer. Every student must deliver a presentation if he or she wants to excel.

Pronouns
Compound antecedents connected by "and" should be treated as plural: Jack and Jill entered the office; they introduced themselves to the head of the department When compound antecedents are connected by "or" or "nor" (or by "either...or" or "neither...nor"), make the pronoun agree with the nearer antecedent: Parents were allowed to enter the hostel. Either Mary or Lucy should hear from hers. Schedules are hard to remember. Neither the engineering student nor the biology majors could remember theirs.

Practice 1
a) Fill in the personal pronouns in the right case: The head of the department said to (he) not to delay the production. How kind of (she) to help us with the conference. Will you answer the phone for (I), my hands are full of files. The boss is very interested in (you) and your new idea. Listen to (she), she has got the expertise, you will certainly learn a lot from (she). Ive brought the plant from my office, please look after (it) while I am away. b) Use the information from part a) to make up a dialogue between two colleagues at work.

Practice 2
Translate the following sentences using the pronoun it whenever necessary: Snt dou sptmni de cnd mi-am depus cererea de angajare. Era foarte frig atunci cnd am ntmpinat delegaia de janonezi la aeroport. E o prostie din partea ta sa cheltuiesti att de mult cu amenajarile interioare. Ploua? Asa se pare. Este imposibil sa ajungem la sedinta daca pregatirile pentru Summit-ul francofoniei se extend si in zona noastra. Nu e greu pentru tine sa muncesti atit de multe ore pe zi?

Practice 3
a) You are at work. Ask the right questions for the answers below, using interrogative pronouns: He is our new employer, but an old colleague at the same time. I dont know about that file, what I know is that the one from the desk is mine. I guess he gave it to the cleaning woman; anyway, he didnt give that key to me. I really dont know whom he asked for advice this time. Nothing changed in the office; you only had the impression, because of your long absence. b) Use the information above to tell a friend what has happened to your work place today.

Practice 4
Here is what someone said about your excolleague John; rephrase the sentences by omitting which: John was happy with the office in which he worked. He has written the memo about which we talked yesterday. A customer bought the TV-set at which John was looking a few minutes ago. The study to which he was referring was published last year. Unfortunately, from the hotel at which John stayed he couldnt communicate with us.

Practice 5
a) Substitute the underlined words by a demonstrative pronoun to make up a text about foreign places and people. The houses here are cozier than the houses in the town we have just seen. But the noise of trains that you are exposed to here is more unbearable than the noise of cars. There is a problem with the way people use language too. There is a big difference between the language of Mary and the language of John. b) Use demonstratives in a text of your own about a holiday place.

Practice 6
Fill in the text with the right pronouns (emphatic or reflexive): In the university cafeteria we have to serve.Many of my colleagues help .plentifully to the sweets. They are quite expensive and nobody pays for them, they pay for them.If one eats so much one will make ill. I can tell you all these because I have seen them..

Practice 7
In the following sentences the indefinite pronouns are misused. Find the right pronouns to obtain meaningful sentences: A memo is someone to write at the level of in-company correspondence. If something comes while I am away, tell them I am out of town. Nobody is calling. It must be the new postman. Anybody came a few minutes ago with this complaint letter for you. I couldnt talk to the director because something answered the phone to that company. Can everybody tell me where I have put my briefcase? There was anything very important in it. Im grateful to you for sending me those two workers, Few were helpful. Much were present but little listened to what the director said. It was a successful negotiation but many was known about what was going behind the scenes. Are there much mistakes in my application letter? No, only a little.